AA: Tsuruya
by Madcinder
Summary: This is the story of a silly, energetic girl from Japan who finds herself tossed into the world of Remnant. Friend and foe come together to face the greatest enemy of humanity, but Tsuruya is not content to sit idly by while the struggle for survival rages on. It has been three years since the Grimm attacked in force, and the people of Remnant are in dire need of a new hope.
1. The Ivory Box

**"The object of our hate, the target of all our rage. They scatter wildly across this world, and they must be purged. We shall never become sated until they are wiped from existence. Oh, how our blood burns at the sight of them, at the thought of their creations, their perversions of nature. What one among us would not give their own life for the chance to disembowel every last one of these creatures, to dissect their bodies and tear down their works.**

**To think that we could have been so blinded. Our focus on these paltry few, how pathetic. If only we could have known that out there, somewhere beyond the stars we see, they infest another world so far beyond this one. We fought and bled and died to destroy a measly few million when elsewhere they thrive in the billions. What fools we have been.**

**No longer. All that remains is for us to leave this world. One final push on the rabble squabbling on the surface of this worthless remnant of a world, so they may know who they face. We have been preparing for years, and now the time has come. Once we have burned it to the ground, we then will return to the void between worlds and begin our journey to the home of this... pestilence. The Human race will end by our hand, tooth and claw, wing and sting, tusk and fang. All will tremble and perish before our might. For this fate so grim, that is what we are.**

**Across endless seas of stars, the universe stretches beyond my sight. One day, near or far, I will find my way home. I will lead my kind to our destiny, the destruction of these worthless being in our wake. We will rise above even the ancient gods and be known throughout all creation. Fear at the mention of our name will become our role in the lives expanding through the whole of eternity. Let us consume everything in our fire, and melt the ice that is our sworn enemy."**

* * *

Two teenage girls sat side by side, their eyes glued to the video on the computer screen in front of them. The video was a security camera showing footage of a bank robbery that had been uploaded to the internet. Whoever had uploaded it, they had hidden the video in a hard-to-find part of the web. Finding it, if you were to ask the girls, was worth it.

One of the girls, wearing a yellow ribbon in her short brown hair, pointed excitedly at the screen. "You see that right there! That!" She paused the video. "Tell me those aren't cat ears! I dare you!"

The other girl, sporting long green hair, leaned back and laughed. "That is pretty good, Haru-nyan! I think we're on to something big, nyoro!"

'Haru-nyan', known to most as Haruhi Suzumiya, stood up and surveyed the clubroom before her. The five other members of her club, the SOS Brigade, sat around the clubroom. Two boys were playing a board game. Two girls were reading books. The final member, another girl, was serving tea.

Haruhi pointed out towards the table they were gathered around, her arm reaching over the computer desk she was sitting at. "Alright, seeing as tomorrow is the beginning of Summer break, I have a special assignment! Bonus points and even a promotion to whoever can catch a cat person!"

One of the boys looked up at her, groaning. "Haruhi, that was probably just somebody wearing a headband with cat ears on it. You put rabbit ears on your own head enough, I thought that would have occurred to you."

Haruhi glared at him. "Shut up, Kyon! If you get any points, I'm giving them to Yuki instead!"

The lavender-haired girl of whom Haruhi was referring, Yuki Nagato, just sat and continued to read her book. Across from her, a blue-haired girl looked up from her own book. She smiled. "Would you like it to be a girl, or does it matter?"

Haruhi hopped up and down with excitement. "See, that's the spirit, Ryoko! Technically it doesn't matter, but I guess there might be bonus points if it's a really cute girl! I mean, I'm talking Mikuru-level cuteness here!" She pointed at the girl who had been serving tea.

Mikuru Asahina clutched the tea tray to her body nervously. "What if... what if it's a cat that's a girl?"

Haruhi looked speechless for a moment. "A... cat that's a girl..." She thought for a few seconds before answering. "Well, I guess if Mikuru can find a cute cat, then she can have an extra point or two."

Kyon raised his hand. "I have a question. Where did these points come from? This is the first time I've heard of them."

Haruhi rolled her eyes like it should have been obvious. "The person with the lowest number of points buys us lunch whenever we go out on a mission."

Before Kyon could complain, the room was filled with the sound of a phone ringing. Haruhi looked annoyed at being interrupted, but stopped the moment she saw it was Yuki's phone. She had never seen the girl use her phone before, but had contacted her by it.

Yuki lifted the phone to her ear, setting her book down on the table. She seemed to be listening, not saying anything. Everyone just watched, wondering who could be calling Yuki. Eventually, the girl spoke into the phone, offering only a one word answer. "Yes."

As soon as Yuki closed her phone and put it away, Haruhi pressed her for answers. "Who was that? What did they want? Why would anyone who isn't here be calling you? Was it a pervert? What was- wait, where are you going?"

Yuki had stood up, placing her book in her bag. She looked to Haruhi and answered without really answering any of the questions she had been asked. "We have a mission."

Haruhi suddenly launched into excitement. "What? Really? Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She nearly jumped over the computer, but managed to go around it at the last moment. She rushed for the door, grabbing Kyon on the way past and dragging him along.

Ryoko stood up and headed to follow, patting the other boy on the shoulder. "Come on, Koizumi. You weren't going to win anyway."

Koizumi shrugged and got up as well, leaving his game with Kyon waiting on the table for their return. Yuki waited for Mikuru to change out of the maid costume she wore while serving tea in the clubroom and back into her school uniform. When the green-haired girl tried to follow them out, Yuki turned and raised her hand to stop her.

"Brigade members only."

Mikuru looked shocked. "Why can't Tsuruya come with us?"

Tsuruya flicked some of her green hair over her shoulder, mumbling quietly. "Nyoro~"

Yuki just stared forward, not really looking at either of them. "She has something else to do."

With an uncertain glance back at her friend, Mikuru started down the hall with Yuki, leaving Tsuruya standing in the doorway of the clubroom. She looked around for a moment before turning and heading back into the room, where she tidied up a bit and turned off the computer. On her way out, she was surprised by a visitor.

Tsuruya closed the door behind her, then gave a slight bow to the girl. "Miss Kimidori. What are you doing here?" She swallowed any cat noises that could have escaped from her throat.

Emiri Kimidori, whose hair was a paler shade of green, glanced down at the bag she was carrying. "I was wondering if you'd like to walk home together. I have something I want you to have, so..."

Tsuruya had never talked much with Emiri, but she figured any chance to get to know someone better was a good opportunity that shouldn't be ignored. Plus, there seemed to be a promise of a gift of some kind. She grinned. "Okay! Let's go!"

* * *

Tsuruya sat on her bed, her back leaning against the wall. She had walked with Emiri until their paths home separated. Before they parted ways, Emiri had given her a package. Now home, Tsuruya was trying to make sense of the gift. Inside the package was a strange box. She recognized the feel of its surface, determining that it was made of ivory. It was about a foot long, and maybe four inches wide and tall. There was a carving of a tusk or a fang on the top.

Emiri had said it would be important. Her exact words were stranger than just that, but Tsuruya was good at figuring out what people meant. She also figured that Yuki had been talking about this when she claimed Tsuruya would have something else to do. Emiri and Yuki were synced like that.

According to Emiri, the box was a sort of beacon. She had explained that portals to other worlds occasionally appeared in scattered locations. The ivory box served to draw portals to it and hold them open. It could be used to hold a steady portal to another world in one place, useful as these portals normally lasted very brief periods of time and rarely came into being anywhere accessible by Humans. Statistically speaking, they did not frequent the troposphere.

Tsuruya understood how these portals worked. She just was not previously aware of the sort of beacon this ivory box supposedly was. She had no need to worry about being swallowed up by portal either, as Emiri had explained that the beacon only functioned when it was stood on its end with the fang's tip pointing down.

Being the girl she was, Tsuruya wanted to test it out. Emiri hadn't told her not to, and likely would not have given it to her if she didn't expect the excitable girl to try it out. Getting up from her bed, she placed the box on her shelf standing on its end with the fang pointing downwards. She stepped back and waited, not really knowing how long it would take. At least, according to Emiri, the box also made the portals more visible. Also a relief, it would only attract one at a time, and she could break off the connection by simply changing the box's position.

It struck her that caution was in order here, as she didn't know what might be on the other side of the portal. She left her room, with the beacon still searching for a nearby portal. In another room of the mansion, her family's private residence, she found exactly what she needed. Several decorative swords were hanging from the wall. The collection was actually quite large, a display of her family's wealth. She selected one, knowing full well that they were only decorative in that no one ever used them. They were definitely real, no doubt about it.

After checking the sword to make sure it was not dulled, she sheathed it and turned to head back to her room. Nearing the open door, she heard a loud crash come from her bedroom. She ran the rest of the way, then stopped just before her door. Something was moving around in her room, and she could hear its steps. She could also hear it sniffing the air and panting.

Turning the corner and drawing her sword, she came face to face with a black beast. It was twice her height, even though it was hunched over and standing on all fours, and was covered in black fur. White bony protrusions sprouted from its elbows, and what looked like a bone mask covered its face, red markings making a strange pattern across the white surface. It had very wolf-like features.

It saw her and lunged, swiping at her with a large clawed hand. Reacting in an instant, she lunged forward as well. She was inside the beast's range, and barreling into its chest. Not expecting her bold move, the beast was forced back. Attacking again, Tsuruya tackled it back into her room.

She hadn't taken the portal into consideration, and only realized her mistake once she was flying through empty blackness. The beast glared at her, its red eyes glowing in the darkness. Giving it no more opportunity, she raised her sword and stuck it through the beast's head. Releasing it, she watched it spiral away into the black, dark smoke coming off its body as it slowly dissolved.

Turning to look where she was going, she saw herself a few seconds from being flung through another portal, leading back into a world. Not her world, but a world. She understood where she was. It was the darkness between worlds. An empty place where one could travel from world to world. Unguided as she was, she couldn't stop the imminent collision.

Tsuruya crashed into the wall of a building, then fell several meters before splashing to a stop in a puddle of rainwater. She found herself staring up at a cloudy sky, rain pouring down and drenching her, her sword laying in the water beside her. She knew what had happened, but she had no idea where she was.

A man's voice spoke to her. "You're going to want to get up. There's an Ursa coming."

He was speaking English. Which was fine, because she understood the language and could speak it well, but she couldn't help but wonder how someone in another world knew English. And why was it English instead of, say, Arabic or Creole? Baffling as it was, she was thankful it was at least something she understood. She turned her head to look at the man. He was wearing all black, including a long coat. On his face was a white mask with red patterns just like she had seen on the beast's face. In his hand was a sword, fairly similar to her own, and along with his spiky red hair she could see two horns on the top of his head.

He sounded irritated when he spoke again. "Come on, get up. We don't have much time. It's bad enough being out here as it is, but we're as good as dead if we don't get back to Beacon before nightfall."

* * *

**Author's notes: Okay, I know you probably have a few questions. I anticipate questions about Ryoko Asakura being a Brigade member. I anticipate questions about why Adam, at least I assume you'll recognize that that is Adam (and if not... tada!), is heading to Beacon. I anticipate that you'll feel like you've missed something very important once you find out what's going on through the next few chapters.**

**I also anticipate that you'll find out right about now that there are three other stories that take place before this one and are planned for release at a later date. Enjoy.**


	2. The World Of Remnant

Rain poured all around her. Tsuruya rolled over and pushed herself up onto her feet. Standing up, she was completely drenched. She looked around to find herself in a ruined city, long-burning fires engulfing a building here and there. She couldn't begin to guess what had happened here. She made sure her sword was sheathed and fastened to her waist.

The man behind her, at least she assumed it was a man and not some evil creature, cleared his throat impatiently. "Ursa's almost here. I think we're going to have to fight it if we want to get away. And, of course, that fight will probably attract more Grimm. I hope you're ready for battle."

There was a word or two he had said that she wasn't certain of the meaning of, but when she thought about it in context she figured that he might be referring to something like the wolf-monster she had encountered before. She drew her sword. "I'm ready."

That seemed to satisfy him, as he turned away from her to looked down towards the end of the alley. Then, coming from around the corner of a ruined building, a giant bear-like monster appeared. It had the same look as the wolf from before, so she determined that they were indeed similar, with the bony protrusions and mask and the red lines on its face. The bear, Ursa, whatever, was much bigger. She could see that there were huge spikes on its back as well. It didn't look like an easy kill.

The man jumped at the Ursa, just barely dodging a sudden swipe from the beast's paw. He drew his sword in an instant and slashed it across the monster's face. It fell back, roaring in pain, but jumped back to the fight immediately. The man landed, quickly rolling out of the way of another strike. He slashed at the beast's paw as he went, causing more pain.

Tsuruya wanted to help, but she wasn't sure where to start. She didn't even know what she was up against. Sure, she had killed the wolf-creature, but she had no basis for any sort of concept of the power gap between the two monsters. While she was hesitating, thinking through her options and capabilities, the Ursa got a hit in on the man. He was sent flying and crashing into the wall, and then slumped to the ground. The Ursa lumbered toward him on its hind legs, moving in for the kill.

No time left to think, Tsuruya shouted at the monster. No clue if it could understand her, she shouted the first thing that came to mind in her English vocabulary. "Hey! Look at me, dweeb!" The Ursa turned to look at her, so she continued. "Yeah, that's right! Come and get me, dork!"

It was a success, to whatever degree it could be considered, as the giant black monster left the man behind and headed for her instead. She drew her sword, totally not ready for fighting something this big, but not about to let the first person she met in another world get eaten. As it got nearer to her, she had to admit that she had no idea how to fight something like this. Now standing over her, the Ursa roared down at her.

Tsuruya rolled her eyes. "Ah... damn it all."

A second before it would have brought its large clawed paw down on top of her, a dark figure streaked through the air over its head, landed on top of the white bony mask, and drove a long sword blade through the top of its skull. The tip of the blade poked out the bottom of the the Ursa's jaw. The beast fell forward, and if it weren't for her having jumped away to dodge its attack, she would have been crushed under its weight.

The man, no worse for wear, stepped down from the beast's head and sheathed his sword. "You don't have any combat experience, do you?"

Tsuruya watched the corpse of the Ursa as it began to disintegrate, black smoke coming off of the body. She shook it off and turned back to the man. "Combat? Uh, yes... but not against something like that. My father taught me how to fight... people."

He shook his head. "Alright, well, we'd better get moving or you're going to end up with a crash course in fighting Grimm. Follow me, and be quick. We've got maybe half an hour before nightfall, and the bullhead will have to abandon the rendezvous point ten minutes before that."

Tsuruya put her sword away and dusted her school uniform off. She chided herself for going on this trip in such an unfitting costume, but it was too late to change into something better. "How far away is that?" It was best not to ask questions, except for the obvious ones.

He grimaced. "Fifteen to twenty minutes away if we go fast."

And with that, he was off running. Tsuruya started off after him, and she was glad that she was at the top of her track class. If she hadn't been so good at sports, she would have lost him in an instant. If she hadn't had such great stamina, she would have gradually lost him. As they ran through abandoned streets, everything looking like it hadn't seen life in years, she spotted the sun on the horizon. It was almost gone from view.

The turned a corner, and when Tsuruya followed the bullhead came into view. It looked close to a helicopter, except had two jet engines sticking off the sides instead of a propeller. Her first thought was that it was really cool, and her second thought was that she wanted one, but then she stopped. The man jumped in through the door on the side of the vehicle, then turned and motioned for her to follow. She was distracted by a massive shape in the air above them.

She pointed up at the shadowy figure. "What the hell is that?"

The man shouted over the sound of the bullhead's engines. "It's a Nevermore! We need to get out of here before more of them show up!"

Looking back down, she jumped in and joined him. He smacked the wall behind the pilot, and the bullhead took off. Tsuruya watched the gigantic bird flying past them as they moved away from the city. It was heading over the city, which was a relief. It was much bigger than the wolf creature or even the Ursa. She couldn't help but wonder if anyone was capable of fighting something like that.

She could see the city now. Whereas she might have expected smoke rising from the ruined buildings, there wasn't any. It had burned for so long, it was a wonder there were still fires burning there. It was a scene of total devastation. She could tell it had once been a thriving city, but now it was all gone.

"I'm Adam, by the way."

She turned to the man standing beside her in the bullhead. "Adam?"

He nodded. "Adam Taurus. Head of the Beacon Rangers." It sounded impressive, though she wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but her face showed that she understood. He pointed to her. "Now it's your turn."

She shook her head, trying to clear it of all the strange thoughts that were running through her mind. "Call me Tsuruya."

"Okay then."

There was silence for a moment before Tsuruya nodded towards the city. "What happened here? What are those things?"

He shot her a look that left no doubt in her mind her thought she was brainless for not already knowing. "Where have you been for the last three years? Those things are Grimm. Nevermore, Ursa, Beowolf, and the list goes on for miles. They've always been outside the borders of the four kingdoms. I guess they finally decided they wanted in."

Tsuruya had to shout over the engines so he could hear her. "I ran into a big werewolf-looking thing just before we met. I managed to kill that one."

Adam looked interested for a bit, before nodding as if that was expected. "Beowolf. They're big, but not so big that you can't fight them the same way you would a person. Usually, anyway. You really don't know anything about the Grimm?"

She shook her head. "Nothing besides what you've already told me."

"Huh..." He took a deep breath. "Well, no one really knows where they came from, but they've been there for as far back as history can recall. So far as we know, their driving instinct is to kill Humans and Faunus and destroy anything we've made. They don't need to eat, but they eat people simply because they want to. We can't really study them either, because they begin to disintegrate as soon as they die. Before the attack, trained huntsmen and huntresses would write volumes of books about all the different known types of Grimm. New types would be discovered literally any time someone went outside the kingdoms. But that's all in the past. Vale fell, and we have no way of knowing if the other kingdoms survived."

There was a lot he had said that she didn't understand, but she assumed it was because he was assuming she knew stuff about this world when she really didn't. She had to figure out a way to get him to explain from the start, but as she was thinking on this something caught her eye. As the sun was setting, she saw what looked like a castle. A huge building on the edge of a cliff, with a river running around it and pouring over the cliff in a magnificent waterfall. It was beautiful where the last rays of sunlight hit it, but she imagined it would look dark and foreboding if the storm clouds were stretching all the way to the horizon and blocking the sun. It would look that way regardless in a few minutes.

Adam leaned around her, taking in the sight himself. "That's Beacon Academy. Once home to hundreds of huntsmen and huntresses in training. Now its walls serve as the last line of defense from the Grimm, protecting all of the remaining population of Vale, as well as a number of people who were visiting from the other kingdoms at the time. The Grimm attacked in the middle of the Vytal Cultural Festival, and other schools like Beacon had sent their students here for the event. As a result, the number of people still living in there is pretty large, but it makes a lot of us wonder if there's anyone left alive in the other kingdoms."

Tsuruya wanted to say something, to clear something up. Unfortunately, her question was based on something she misunderstood. She didn't know what a Faunus was, or even that it was a thing, so she thought he had said 'fauna' instead. "Those monsters... the Grimm. They looked like animals to me. Why do they attack other animals?"

Adam didn't catch her misunderstanding, and so took the question at face value. "They normally don't. Usually, Grimm and normal animals just leave each other alone. They get into territorial fights from time to time, and that could go either way with a smaller Grimm, but the bigger ones just make animals run and hide. And a lot of Grimm may look like animals, but they aren't. You'll understand it when you see some of the uglier ones. Animals, and Humans and Faunus, have souls. We can tell something has a soul if it has an aura. Grimm don't have aura. They're soulless."

She caught it that time. He had said 'Faunus' separately from animals. That had to mean something. "Wait, what's a..." She noticed the horns on his head again. "Faunus? Are you a Faunus?"

He looked disturbed. "What, you couldn't tell?"

She had no choice but to shake her head again. "I... I've never met a Faunus before."

Adam grimaced. "Well, before we start being friends or anything, I think you should know I used to be a high-ranking member of the White Fang. I'm not exactly a nice person, so don't go getting any ideas."

Tsuruya offered him a smile. "Aww, don't say that. You're... you're the nicest Faunus I've ever met."

He groaned, and she sensed he was rolling his eyes. She had just said she'd never met a Faunus before. "That'll change next one you meet, which will be as soon as we land if you stick around to say hello to the pilot."

She felt bad for him, and a bit guilty for not explaining her situation sooner, but she figured it would be best if she wait and find out who could take a story like hers. The bullhead swung in low over Beacon Academy, as if it were in a hurry, and flew into a hangar. The large hangar doors closed behind them, sealing them off from the night. There was no going back now... for now. She had at least the night to find someone who would believe her, albeit ridiculous, story.

Adam jumped out onto the hangar floor and turned to her. "Well, here we are. Our home, and now yours too. Welcome to Beacon."

She sincerely hoped this place wouldn't really end up being her home for any length of time.

* * *

**Author's note: So now you know. But we still don't know what all happened here, and it's going to be quite the mystery to solve. Trust me, it'll be a big one. All you have to do to figure out what's wrong is count the characters as they appear. Someone will be missing who should not be missing. You'll find out soon enough.**


	3. First Night At Beacon

The boy that stepped down from the bullhead's cockpit threw Tsuruya for a loop. To make a long story short, she was interested. He had finely chiseled abs, which she could clearly see because he left his shirt open. He was well tanned and had a mop of messy blond hair on top of his head. He had the tail of a monkey swinging behind him, but she quickly determined she could put up with that.

He saw her and sidled up to her. "Hey. My name's Sun. What's yours?"

She looked up at him. "Tsuruya."

Sun nodded like he got it, but it looked like he wasn't sure how to pronounce it. "Right, so, uh... Adam found you in the city? How long were you out there alone?"

She shrugged. "About a minute, I think."

He looked surprised. "Really? Wait, how does that work?"

She held up her hand to stop him. "I'll explain that later. First... can you show me around? Maybe introduce me to people?"

He straightened up. "Uh, yeah. Sure."

A stern-looking blond woman walked over to the two of them, but Adam stepped between them. "I found her in the city. She seems fine."

The woman scowled. "You should have called ahead and asked permission to bring someone new here. We're running out of supplies to feed the people we have. We have to think about this strategically."

Adam gripped his sword, though it was obvious he didn't intend to use it here. "She's just a kid, Glynda. We can't leave her out there alone."

Glynda nodded. "I know, and I would have allowed it if you had asked, but I want to at least know about these things. Or... am I no longer in charge here?"

Adam stepped back, conceding. "No, you are in charge. At least, you are until Ozpin returns from Mistral."

Glynda grimaced. "It's been a month since he left. We need to start accepting that he won't be coming back." Adam turned and walked away, grumbling to himself. Glynda stepped forward and nodded to Tsuruya before addressing Sun. "I believe you said you would show her around. You should get to that. I need to talk with Adam some more."

Sun nodded, turning to Tsuruya and bowing while offering his hand. "Yes, let's." She took his hand and let him lead her off.

Glynda headed over to Adam, who was standing at a table at the side of the hangar and looking over a map of Vale with two others. She started before she was even at the table. "Sorry if I sounded a bit meaner than usual. It has been a rough day." He looked up at her, expecting an explanation. She took a breath. "We lost a bullhead."

The other two looked up as well. Adam thought for a moment before responding. "You're in charge of Beacon, but I give the commands to the Rangers."

She nodded. "Yes, I know."

He stepped around the table, closing the distance between them. "So, then, do you mind explaining to me how we lost a bullhead when I only cleared three to leave here and, lo and behold, all three pilots are back here safely?"

One of the other two, a girl with brown hair and rabbit ears, spoke up. "I received orders to pick up General Ironwood before meeting up with Mercury."

Adam grimaced. "So you didn't use my Rangers. Who was the pilot?"

Glynda sighed. "Professor Peach."

Adam glanced back at the two behind him. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me why it was so important for them to go into town."

Glynda took a deep breath. "I can't give you all the details right now, but I think you have the right to know that there may be a new kind of Grimm out there. One that's unlike any we've ever seen before."

Adam shrugged. "It's always been like that with the Grimm. There's always new kinds. And what, you were looking for this new one? To kill it?"

She shook her head. "No, first we need confirmation of its existence. Then we can worry about finding a way to blast it back out of existence. And I know you're imagining some giant monster Grimm right now, so you can stop that right away. That's not what we're looking for. What we're looking for is a Human-form Grimm."

* * *

The halls of Beacon Academy were crowded, makeshift beds covering all but a thin strip down the middle. There were doorways leading to what looked like bedrooms, but the doors had been removed to allow for more people. Sun led Tsuruya through the halls. It looked like he had an idea of where he was going, but she couldn't tell for sure.

He turned a corner, leading her away from the hallways. "Well, that's how most of us live now. Anyone with skills even remotely useful are given a little bit more if they want it, and everyone else is encouraged to find a way to help." They came out onto a balcony overlooking the campus. There was a boy and a girl sitting on the edge of the balcony, as if keeping watch. Sun addressed them casually. "Gonna be a quiet night?"

The girl, her ginger hair falling just past her shoulders, shrugged. "The clouds are clearing up, so no storm. That means we'll be able to hear them."

Tsuruya looked out at the world laid before her. "Them? The Grimm, you mean?"

The boy, who was sitting cross-legged on the railing, opened his magenta eyes to study the newcomer. "Yes, but more specifically the Whailers."

Sun flinched. "Those again?"

Tsuruya looked to Sun for an explanation. "Whailers?"

The Faunus boy nodded. "We call them that because they look sorta like gigantic whales... with tentacles. Anyway, they're pretty big and they make lots of freaky noises."

The other boy nodded. "They're the largest recorded Grimm, in fact."

The girl added the last unnecessary piece to the mental image Tsuruya was conjuring up. "And they fly."

The boy groaned. "Yes, that too. They fly."

The girl continued. "But they fly really high up, which is why I hate it when there's no clouds. I don't like the idea of having giant Grimm floating in the air over us all th-"

The boy stopped her. "Nora, that's enough."

Sun stepped forward. "Okay, so, anyway, I'd like you two to meet someone." They turned to look at the girl with green hair in their midst. Sun introduced her. "This is Tsuruya. Adam found her in town today. Tsuruya, this is Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren."

The boy smiled at her. "Just call me Ren."

Nora hopped down from the ledge. "You were in town? How did you survive there for so long?"

Tsuruya looked around for a moment, wondering if she should trust these three with the truth. No one else was around, so she thought she should give it a shot. "Alright, here's the thing. I was on my way home from school and a friend of mine gave me this box-thing that was supposed to... uh... maintain a stable portal to another world. It worked, and it opened a portal right in my bedroom and one of these Grimm came through, a Beowolf from what I've heard. I guess I tackled it through the portal and that's when I ended up here. Adam found me, like, a few seconds after I came to your world."

The three of them stared at her for a few seconds. It was Nora who broke the silence. "That's... AWESOME!"

Ren tried to calm her down. "Nora, wait, I don't think we should just-"

Nora turned to face him. "Just what? She says she comes from another world, then who are we to say otherwise? I say we believe her until we have hard evidence that she's lying."

Sun wasn't having an easy time with the information either. He leaned back against the balcony railing. "But... come on, portals between worlds? You only get that in fantasy movies."

Nora eyed him. "We use techno-magic to fight evil monsters for a living."

He shrugged. "Yeah, and?"

Both girls rolled their eyes, unaware of each other doing the same. Tsuruya picked up the conversation again. "So, uh, what I need you to take away from all that right now is... I don't know a thing about your world. Also, probably best if you didn't tell anyone."

Sun nodded. "That I can believe. And if you really need to be filled in on absolutely everything, then I'm sure we can help you there." He looked to Nora. "In the meantime, send up a light so we can see where those things are."

Nora nodded, stepping out to the edge of the balcony. She reached down and picked something up off the ground, lifting it to her shoulder. She aimed it straight up and, just as Tsuruya was thinking it looked like a grenade launcher, fired. The shot flew up into the air until it disappeared from sight completely. Somewhere above them it exploded into a bright light that lit up the night sky.

In amongst the clouds, massive shapes were moving. Tsuruya's eyes went wide at the sight. They did indeed look like whales, save for the long tendrils covering the body. The sounds reached down to them, like distant wails and moans far too enormous to belong to anything she had ever seen before. If she had to describe them to someone back home, she would have said 'mile-long zombie whales'. That was really the only description that did them any sort of justice in both appearance and sound.

Tsuruya watched the shapes in the sky until the light died out. She looked back down to the others. "How can anyone fight that?"

Ren shook his head. "That's been the question for three years now. If we knew how to get rid of the Grimm, we would do it. That's what the Huntsmen and Huntresses have been aiming to achieve since as far back as history can recall."

"If we didn't have the Grimm, we would still be fighting each other."

Everyone turned to see who had spoken. Nora jumped up and hugged the other redhead. "Pyrrha! You have to come meet our new friend! She says she's from a differe-"

Ren called after her. "Nora! ...People are trying to sleep." Nora caught the hidden message and got off of Pyrrha.

Pyrrha looked over Tsuruya. "Oh, hello. You must be Tsuruya. Adam told me I might find you up here. Has Sun given you too much trouble?"

Tsuruya nodded, then shook her head. "No, no trouble. He just showed me around and then brought me here. Then we looked up at a sky full of terrifying monsters."

Pyrrha looked up at the sky. "Hmm... Adam told you that Beacon was a school, right?"

Tsuruya shrugged and nodded. "I don't think he called it a school specifically, but it's an academy, and that's pretty much the same thing."

Pyrrha laughed. "Well, yes. Ren, Nora and I were on the same team here at Beacon when this all started. We'd be on vacation right now, resting up before our fourth year, if the Grimm hadn't suddenly attacked in such numbers. Or at least, that's what our schedule says we would be doing."

Nora stepped up to Tsuruya's side, quietly explaining to her. "Pyrrha thinks that people would have started fighting each other if the Grimm hadn't attacked."

Pyrrha turned around. "Would we not have? The White Fang and Roman Torchwick were on the verge of starting a war between Vale and Atlas. No war ever happened, but only because they thought they could herd the Grimm. They underestimated the Grimm, and by the time we all realized that the Grimm were using Torchwick's plan for their own purpose it was too late. In that moment, our greatest enemy united us, brought us together. I believe that the Grimm were given to us in order to keep us from killing each other. My God, we almost did start killing each other. There was power armor running down the highway. People were running scared from bomb threats. No Human or Faunus could have brought us all together so quickly."

Tsuruya spoke up from beside Nora. "So you think the attack was a good thing?"

Pyrrha smiled. "Too many people have died for it to be all good. I don't know, perhaps it was divine punishment or something like that. Though... no one really believes in anything divine anymore. Then again, maybe that's why."

Ren sat up on the railing again. "Well, it's hard to believe in something divine once the soul has been quantified and measured with scientific instruments." He stopped abruptly, looking like he was suddenly thinking really hard about something.

Pyrrha shook her head. "Well, that's enough of that for now. Who's hungry? Jaune made pancakes."

Tsuruya brightened up. "Hey, you have pancakes here?"

Nora brightened up at the same time and in the same way. "Alright, pancakes! It's pancake time!"

Sun pushed off from the railing. "Pancake time?"

Nora nodded. "Pancake time comes right after fireworks time and right before sleep time."

Everything stopped suddenly at the sound of a happy little jingle. Everyone turned to Tsuruya. There was silence, and then the jingle returned. It was unmistakable. The foreign sound was coming from her. She took in all of their dumbstruck and baffled faces for a moment, deciding that she wanted to burn that image into her mind. It truly was priceless.

Certain she had it, she turned away from them and reached into her shirt where she kept her phone, pulling it out and opening it. She put it to her ear. "Hello?"

She found herself joining the ranks of the baffled when a familiar voice reached her. "_Tsuruya! I need your help! I found a cat that's a girl, but she doesn't want me to catch her!_"

Tsuruya was silent for a few moments, but then shook it off. "Mikuru? How did you reach me here?"

Mikuru's voice came back. "_What? Where are you?_"

Tsuruya puffed up her cheeks. She didn't want to have that conversation in front of the others right now. "Well... well, if you can't catch the cat, then how do you know it's a girl?"

Mikuru took a few extra seconds to answer. "_Uh... oh! Cause she has a girl's voice!_"

Tsuruya rolled her eyes. "Alright, Mikuru. Whatever you say. Look, I'm really busy. I don't think I can help you catch a cat right now."

"_Oh, okay._" She sounded like she was about to hang up, but then she started up again. "_Oh, right! You're going to be at school tomorrow, right? We met some new friends and we're going on an adventure, but I want you to come along too._"

Tsuruya wasn't sure what to make of this adventure or these new friends, but she did know one thing for sure. "Yeah, I don't think I can be there. I'm actually probably going to be away for a while. Sorry, Mikuru."

"_Oh... okay. See you later, then._"

"Again, I'm sorry. Bye, Mikuru." She hung up, then stared at her phone for a moment. "The portal must be still open. That's the only way that call could have gotten through."

Ren stood up. "I think I should tell you. I've decided that Nora is right. Until we see evidence otherwise, I see no reason to doubt your story." Tsuruya turned back to the four other-worlders. Ren continued. "But then we have a problem. It seems your friends can still contact you, and if you're right and that's because the portal's still open, and that portal is somewhere in Vale, and that means the Grimm are free to cross into your world."

Tsuruya nearly dropped her phone. "Oh my God, you're right."

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "Um... what's going on?"

* * *

**Author's note: Good question, Pyrrha! What is going on? Well, here we've introduced a few more characters. Namely Glynda, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, and Sun. If you couldn't tell, Velvet was there also. Massive Grimm floating high above everything, Ozpin MIA, character we've never seen is dead, and chances of a new Grimm with the form of a Human, and Mikuru found a girl cat? Yes indeed. Let's see, what's coming up next... ah ha! Meeting all the rest of Adam's Beacon Rangers!**

**Also, for the uninformed, this story takes place somewhere around three years after the first volume of RWBY.**


	4. Terror In The Skies

Tsuruya looked up from her breakfast, speaking quietly over to Pyrrha. "You said Roman Torchwick was the guy who almost started a war before the Grimm attacked, right?"

Pyrrha nodded. "If his plans had gone through, we'd all be at each other's throats."

Tsuruya glanced over to the redhead. "You could have stopped him, right? Someone could have stopped him."

Pyrrha shook her head. "Miss Goodwitch has fought against Roman's associates, so she might have had a clue what to do. But her responsibilities at Beacon would have kept her from it until it was too late."

On the other side of Pyrrha, a scruffy blond boy who looked like he hadn't cut his hair in years spoke up. "There was someone else who took on Roman."

Pyrrha raised her hand to stop him. "Jaune, it's best we don't bring that up. What could have been is something we shouldn't dwell on." She shook her head and smiled to Tsuruya. "Why do you ask about Roman, though?"

Tsuruya shrugged. "Well, maybe I missed something, but isn't that him right there?"

Pyrrha and Jaune looked to where she was looking. Pyrrha sighed. "Yes, that's him. Everyone else that was working with him offered to help when the Grimm attacked. He just sort of leeches off everyone else. He doesn't help in any way at all."

Tsuruya looked back to Pyrrha. "Well, has anyone asked him to help out?"

Pyrrha looked back to her food. "If he hasn't offered, then he wouldn't help even if we asked." There was a short silence before Pyrrha answered again. "We don't... this goes unsaid most of the time, but we don't ask him because nobody wants his help. You're right, we don't know if he would help or not, but we would all rather just not have him around."

Jaune lowered his head, his blond bangs covering his eyes. "I know someone else who would have been a great help fighting back against the Grimm."

Pyrrha turned on him, lowering her voice. "I said stop it. They're gone, and there's nothing we can do about it. It's best to just focus on what we have and what we can do now."

Tsuruya leaned across towards Ren and Nora, who had so far kept quiet. "Who are they talking about?"

Nora was right in, answering before Pyrrha could stop her. "Team RWBY. Their leader took on Roman before she even finished at Signal." Tsuruya shook her head, not picking up on what that meant. Nora explained. "Oh, well, Signal is the academy a lot of students go to before Beacon. It's your basic combat school, whereas Beacon is for advanced training specifically designed for creating Huntsmen and Huntresses. Anyways, her name was Ruby Rose. She was moved up two years, so she was only fifteen when she took on a capable and ruthless fighter like Roman Torchwick, which is pretty impressive."

Ren picked it up while Nora was taking a breath. "The other girls on the team were also prodigies on their own. Jaune and Nora think we'd be far better off if they were still around. Personally, I think it would have been nice, but I don't see that just four people could have changed the way things happened. Pyrrha..."

Pyrrha spoke for herself. "I think we should stop dwelling on the past and things that might have been."

Tsuruya prodded Pyrrha for answers. "Wait, so, what happened to them?"

Pyrrha was quiet for a moment, trying to decide if she should give her the answer. Eventually, she gave in. "They just vanished in the middle of the year. Right before the Vytal festival and all Roman's plans were about to come together. No one knows what happened to them, really. They went down to the docks to greet new arrivals from Vacuo, and then no one ever saw them again."

Tsuruya had to think about that for a moment. "Wait... four prodigy fighters went missing in the middle of the city... before the Grimm attacked?"

Pyrrha just nodded. "Yup." And the conversation was over just like that.

A few minutes passed in silence until the awkwardness started to get to Tsuruya. She stood up. "Well, I'm going to see if there's anyone who doesn't want the rest of their breakfast." She turned and bumped into someone's back. The young man turned and promptly apologized, seemingly uninterested in laying the blame on her. Tsuruya looked up at him. "You know... you're really tall."

He smiled, offering his hand. "I'm Neptune. You must be the foreign girl Sun told me about."

Looking way up, she realized he had bright blue hair. "Ah..." She straightened up, taking his hand and shaking it firmly, as she had learned was the normal customary greeting on other planets. "I'm Tsuruya. You must be the colossal god of the oceans Sun told me about."

Neptune gave a confused look. "I'm sorry, I... don't understand what you mean."

Tsuruya waved and walked away. "Catch you later, fish boy!"

Just as she was walking away, a siren blared overhead. Several people around the large dining hall jumped up and rushed for the exit. Not really thinking, Tsuruya ran to catch up with them. They ran outside of the building, all eyes turning to the sky. Glancing back, Tsuruya saw a lot of faces pressed up against the windows to see what was happening. She looked up.

Clouds blocked out the giant whale Grimm, but there was something else a lot closer. It was like a great black worm, a nightmarish maw where a face might have been. Three pairs of huge leathery black wings positioned along its body kept it aloft, sending huge gusts of wind down towards the academy grounds with every beat.

Adam rushed out of the main building, waving everyone away. He shouted over the siren and the sweeping sounds of the giant Grimm. "Coco! Oobleck! Everyone else back inside!"

Tsuruya, however, missed it. As everyone moved back indoors, she found herself with a front row seat. Running to meet Adam was a man wearing a brown coat and sporting a great hair color. Strolling behind him was a tall stylish girl, toting a handbag along with her.

Adam ran across the grassy expanse between the main building and the outer perimeter. Tsuruya looked where he was headed and saw that several smaller Grimm had climbed over the wall. Beowolves mostly, like the one that had invaded her bedroom, along with an Ursa or two.

Coco positioned herself under the giant flying worm, waiting for her weapon to finish switching modes. Once it was done she held an overlarge gatling gun. She aimed up at the worm and opened fire. A spray of rapid-fire bullets tore through the massive beast, sending pieces of black hide flying through the air and disintegrating as they fell towards the ground. As awesome and destructive as the weapon's effects were, it didn't seem to cause the worm anything more than annoyance. They were huge chunks being shot off, but mere flakes off the creature's skin.

Beside her, Doctor Oobleck began launching blasts of fire from his weapon. They impacted the body of the beast, but also seemed to do little more than knock flakes off the flying mass. Tsuruya saw what was happening, and that the creature was unaffected. She ran to join the two, stopping right in front of them.

"You're not doing anything! It's too big! You..." She looked up at it. "You have to aim for the wings! Destroy it's wings! They're smaller and weaker!" She noticed something else. "But not while it's-"

Coco finished for her. "Not while it's still flying over the school! But we're hurting it first!"

Tsuruya watched where the two were firing their weapons, and how the worm reacted. They shot at its tail mostly, and it reacted by moving its head as far away from its tail as it could. Then they fired at the empty air, and it moved away from that spot entirely. They were leading it away from the school... until... its head was no longer over anything important.

Several blasts of fire launched towards one of the front wings, a stream of bullets striking at the opposite wing. The most fragile parts of the monster shattered, and the wings fell to the ground in a growing mess of black smoke. No longer supported, the head fell as well. It crashed down, shaking the ground and making a crater, then continued moving around and trying to fly. The back two pairs of wings kept the rest of the body in the air, flying forward and away from the school until they had passed over the fallen head and started dragging it along the ground.

Carrying her weapon, Coco ran ahead. She stopped in front of the Grimm's mouth. It saw her, and the head started crawling along the ground towards her. She turned and ran towards the outer wall, guiding the worm farther away from the school. Once she was sure it had enough space to fall without harming anyone, she aimed her weapon and fired right down its throat. The back of its head exploded in a shower of dark fragments, causing visible jolts of pain to shoot through the length of its body.

Oobleck fired up at the remaining wings, blasting them off one by one, causing the tail end to fall to the ground. When it finally collapsed entirely, sending up a cloud of dust and dirt into the air, Tsuruya finally let herself breath easy. She looked over to the green-haired man, seeing his cocky smile.

Tsuruya slumped over sheepishly. "You guys knew what you were doing the whole time, didn't you."

He nodded. "Yes, but the fact that you were able to deduce the same strategy indicates a keen mind necessary for becoming a Huntress. You, I believe, have what it takes even at your young age to become a great Huntress. Tell me, do you have an interest in joining us in the defense of the innocent from the ravages of the dark forces that inhabit our world?"

He spoke in such rapid fire manner that she barely understood what he was saying, but she caught the gist of it. She was about to decline, thinking that it wasn't her fight, but then the giant worm's tail started moving again. She jumped back. "It's still alive!"

Oobleck seemed not to mind. "Alive and writhing in pain as our friend shreds its insides with her weapon. She knows where the brain is on these things. It'll be dead in a few moments."

Calming down, she looked over the length of the thing. It was unbelievable in size, and yet these people fought them just to survive. Adam wasn't far off, tearing through Beowolves like they were nothing. She had already taken out one Beowolf all on her own. Perhaps, she thought, with training she could be as powerful as them.

Smoke started coming off the body of the now dead worm. Coco walked over to join them. The siren stopped blaring, and Tsuruya saw Adam standing on the wall and looking out over the landscape beyond. She turned to Oobleck, feeling her hand moving towards her sword and gripping the handle.

She nodded. "I think... I think I do want to help."

Coco stood behind Tsuruya, placing her hand on her hip. "From what Sun told me, you'll probably need your aura activated before you'll be much use in a fight, girl from another world."

Tsuruya's face turned red. "He told everyone?" She turned around to face Coco. "Wait a minute. Aura?"

Coco nodded, reaching up and flicking some hair over her shoulder. "Well, anyway, if you need your aura unlocked, you can talk to Pyrrha. She's good with that. I mean, I could, but Pyrrha can explain it to you at the same time. She loves to explain aura, so I couldn't let her miss another opportunity."

* * *

**Author's note: What do you think about my giant Grimm fight? Oh, don't worry, there'll be more awesome fights than that later on. Anyways, the new Grimm is called a Doom Worm. They are... pretty ugly. That's about it.  
**

**Oh yes, and team RWBY is MISSING!**


	5. The Beacon Rangers

Tsuruya hopped up onto the bullhead. She turned around and reached out her hand. Cinder took her hand and allowed Tsuruya to pull her up. The two of them joined Neptune and Jaune in the on-board seats. Coco and a young man named Carl Leon joined them. Coco's teammate, a girl with rabbit ears named Velvet, was their pilot.

At the last moment, as the engines were powering up, Pyrrha ran to them and jumped in. She grabbed onto a handle as the bullhead took off, grinning towards Jaune. He laughed. Neptune nudged Carl, who was seated beside him, with his elbow. Coco, still standing, offered the last seat to Pyrrha. The redhead smiled and accepted the offer, sitting across from Jaune and beside Tsuruya.

Tsuruya blocked out whatever chatter the others were going through, concentrating on her hand, which she held out in front of her. She had been thinking about her aura a lot since Pyrrha had activated it for her, two days earlier. Through intensive training, she had managed to earn herself a spot on today's mission.

Sun was piloting Adam's team, and Nora and Ren were with Doctor Oobleck on the third team piloted by a woman named Emerald. Each team would be scouting through a different section of Vale. As Tsuruya had learned, the term 'scouting' was used very loosely here. They were Beacon Rangers. While stealth was a large part of the job, because they didn't want every Grimm in the city coming down on them, what they were really doing was exterminating the enemy.

Part of Pyrrha's lecture on aura included the distinct difference between Grimm and everyone else. They had no soul to speak of. Knowing that, Tsuruya became aware of the mentality that allowed her the idea of enjoying killing endless swarms of the creatures. They had no souls, so it was like tearing through robots or store mannequins. But that wasn't the only thing in Pyrrha's lecture that caught her attention.

Pyrrha had told her that semblance was what they called the outwards projection of aura, and everyone had a different semblance. Pyrrha had taught her how to use her aura to heal or defends herself, recovering from attacks or simply blocking them. An aura only had so much strength, and if used too much it would need time to recover. In Tsuruya's mind, it was a lot like a force-field.

So with the exercises Pyrrha had taught her for inwards healing and protection, Tsuruya had determined that an outward projection would be the exact opposite. In other words, there was defensive and offensive. If there was anything Tsuruya knew how to do, it was being offensive.

As the bullhead flew towards its destination in Vale, Tsuruya focused on projecting her aura outwards. Suddenly, a burst of orange energy sparked from her hand. She jumped back in surprise. "Whoah! Did anyone see that?"

Everyone looked over to her, clearly having not seen it. Cinder was the only one to answer helpfully. "Looks like you figured something out there."

Tsuruya nodded. "Yeah… Gimme a second, I'll do it again." She'd also been practicing her English over the past two days. "Here I go."

Pyrrha watched carefully as another burst of orange sprang up from the girl's hand. She smiled. "You did it! That… doesn't look like semblance, if you don't mind me saying."

Tsuruya frowned. A ball of orange floated over her palm, though she could clearly see orange tendrils connecting it to her hand. "So then what?"

Pyrrha shrugged. "Some people can project pure aura in combat situations. Like Ren. He can utilize his aura for battle without activating his semblance. It's not terribly common, but it is a well-documented phenomenon. Although no one is really sure what causes it to happen in some people and not in others."

Tsuruya smiled again. "So I'm like Ren. Ren's cool. I can live with that."

Neptune commented on the floating energy ball. "Why is your aura orange?"

Beside him, Carl commented as well. "It smells like fruit."

Jaune glanced over at Carl. "Really? I didn't think so?"

Tsuruya cut in. "No, he's right. It smells like oranges."

Neptune nodded in agreement. "Right, so why is it orange?"

Tsuruya shrugged. "Cause it smells like oranges."

Neptune shook his head. "I don't recognize that as a thing."

Tsuruya looked up at Neptune, then over to Pyrrha. The redhead shook her head. Tsuruya laughed, then started to explain. "Well, there's a sort of citrus fruit on my world called an orange. Do you guys not have any of those?"

Pyrrha sat back. "Well, not here or in Mistral."

Cinder copied Pyrrha's movement almost exactly. "Not in Atlas either."

"I'm pretty sure there's nothing that smells like that in Vacuo either..." Neptune finished by looking over to Carl. "So..."

Carl looked around at everyone else. "What? It smells like a fruit. If I saw a plant that looked like a fruit and smelled like that, I'd eat it. You can't tell me that smell doesn't make you think of fruit."

Jaune nodded. "It does, now that I think about it. Yeah, I think I'd eat it."

Coco hadn't turned back to them since they took off, keeping silent watch out the side of the bullhead, so it surprised most of them when they heard her mumbling something. "Might go well in a nice coffee blend..."

The lighthearted topic was cut off when Velvet called back from the cockpit. "We're over the city, guys! There's something moving around down there, and I don't recognize the shape! I can't land! You're going to have to jump!"

Coco called back up to her, everything else forgotten. "Drop us off on the expressway! We'll clear it for you to land!"

"Roger that!" Velvet steered the bullhead towards the elevated streets, calling out whatever she spotted. "Nevermore's perched on that tower to the East! A pack of Beowolves, it looks like, are on the expressway! You're going to have to take care of them before I can land! The roads are collapsed, too! That thing I saw earlier is moving in our direction!"

Coco nodded. "We'll clear them out!" She turned to everyone seated. "Everyone ready! Teams of three! Jaune, take Cinder and Pyrrha and clear out the Beowolves! Neptune and Tsuruya are with me after the unknown incoming! Carl, stay with Velvet in case those Nevermores get too close!"

Velvet called back one last time. "In position! Jump! Go! Go! Go!"

Coco turned on her heel and stepped out of the bullhead, dropping away out of view. Everyone was out of their seats in an instant. Pyrrha jumped after Coco, followed by Neptune and Cinder. Tsuruya stopped at the edge, looking down just in time to see Coco land. It was a very long drop and, though she'd been told about how her aura would protect her, natural Human instinct told her it was counterproductive for her to jump.

Jaune stepped past her, flashing a smile. "Took me a while to get used to it, but it's easy. Just think about the coolest way to land, and then do that."

He jumped before she could respond, but his words struck her as sensible. She'd seen it work, and the others had all just done it. She had the same abilities as them now. They could do it, she could do it. Simple as that. She took a deep breath and prepared to jump down…

"Incoming!" Velvet pulled the bullhead to the side just in time to avoid the giant Nevermore that swooped past.

Tsuruya fell out the side of the bullhead and landed a moment later. She was stunned for a moment, trying to figure out why she hadn't fallen very far, before she realized that the surface she was laying on was feathered.

Drawing her sword, she tried her hand at swearing in English. "Ah, ship."

Down below, Coco watched the circling Nevermore while her weapon switched modes. She wasn't sure, but she thought she had seen… "Ah, fudge. Neptune! Tsuruya's on that Nevermore! We need to get her down!"

Nodding, the blue-haired young man aimed his gun carefully. "A few feathers clipped?" He pulled the trigger.

Finding it too difficult to get her footing any other way, Tsuruya stabbed her sword into the giant bird's back. The Nevermore flapped its wings heavily, halting its forward movement and causing her to nearly slide right off its back. She couldn't tell exactly what was happening, but the sounds of small explosions going off near her told her that the others were shooting at the bird.

Neptune landed a particularly solid blow dead center on the creature's chest, knocking it back and almost out of the air altogether. Regaining its balance, the Nevermore started gaining altitude and turned to fly away from those that were causing it harm. Tsuruya took the opportunity offered by the Grimm bird's ascent the push herself off and fall to the nearest surface below her, which was a higher section of the many elevated roads in the city.

Tsuruya ducked as soon as she heard gunfire ripping over her head. Coco's stream of bullets shredded the fleeing Grimm above her head, then went silent. Standing up, Tsuruya got a good look at her surroundings. Now that she was in the city during the day, it looked a lot different. She could see the Grimm in the distance in just about every direction. The only exception, of course, being directly behind her on the expressway. They weren't in the distance there.

Looking down at the section the others were on, she saw they were now engaging a pack of Beowolves and tearing through them with ease. She checked the Grimm behind her to find they were now charging. Getting caught up in a fight with, if she remembered correctly, an Ursa and three Boarbatusks all on her own was not how she wanted to spend her first mission as a Beacon Ranger. There was a slanted section of broken expressway caught between the higher road she was on and the lower road the others were on.

She turned around to face the closing Grimm. It was one-liner time. "Sorry, but no autographs today."

She turned and vaulted over the railing, falling three meters and landing on her feet, and then sliding down the ramped piece of broken expressway. At the bottom, she jumped over the remnants of the railing and slid to a stop. Looking up, she saw that the Ursa had climbed over the railing and was now sliding down the broken road after her.

Putting her foot up on the railing, Tsuruya angled her sword at the broken section. "Maximum allowed weight exceeded, sir!"

A focused blast of her aura channeled its way down the sword, gathering at the tip as she stabbed downward. The entire section cracked and crumbled, taking the Ursa with it when it fell to the ground far below.

Coco appeared beside her, looking down at the fallen Ursa. "Huh… neat."

Tsuruya sheathed her sword, keeping one foot up on the railing. "There were piggy things up there too, but I don't think they can follow me now."

Coco nodded. "Probably not. Look, we got something a lot bigger on its way and we don't know what it is. We need to take it out before Velvet can land, and to fight it we need to figure out what it is."

Tsuruya managed to pull herself away from her victory pose, hand remaining on the hilt of her sword. "I hope it's a dragon."

As if to answer her, a massive distinctly dragon-shaped head rose over the side of the expressway and covered them in its shadow. It was joined by two more giant dragon heads. Then three more rose up from the other side. Not far off, more heads came over the side and surrounded the others.

Tsuruya drew her sword, unsure exactly how to fight six massive serpents. "I only wanted one..."

Coco grimaced. "It is one. It's a Hydra."

* * *

**Author's note: New Grimm! Always more new Grimm! Because it's that kind of story, and once you've seen a Beowolf get chopped up, it's not really all that threatening anymore, so you need something bigger, and what's better for the job than a dragon? Hydra, by the way, has a darn lot of heads. This will be quite the fight scene... next chapter. Thank you for reading, and please review.**


	6. Tip Of The Iceberg

Coco pirouetted out of the way as one of the dragon heads slammed its beaked face into the expressway, punching through and sending the entire section down to the ground. A second head snapped after her, but she batted it away with her gun.

Neptune slid under one of the heads, quickly righting himself and switching his weapon to its trident form in order to vault himself over the newly-created gap. Landing cleanly, he ducked and rolled as yet another head swooped down after him. He swatted at the head, knocking it back before joining Coco.

Tsuruya found herself struggling to hold back her laughter as she danced around the swirling masses of scaly monster necks. Sensing it coming, she jumped just as one of the Hydra's heads broke through the street beneath her. Sword glowing with her aura's energy, she slashed under her. The monster roared in pain, bursting through the concrete as she landed running. It fixed its eyes on her back, lurching forward in a rage.

The three joined up, standing back to back as six Hydra heads closed in on them. Coco grimaced. She had her gun trained on one of them, but it wasn't powerful enough to put the head out of commission. Even if it was, the others would immediately be on them. There was no way to take out all six heads before they could close in. It was already too dangerous, but she knew above all else that they couldn't afford to take out the heads.

"They're all around us." Neptune observed.

Coco nodded. "Coming up from all sides. Means the body is directly under us."

Tsuruya glanced over her shoulder. "Stab the heart?"

Coco smiled. "Stab the heart. Let's drop the whole thing on it first."

She smashed the back end of her weapon into the street. At first, the six heads drew nearer, but they stopped when the street continued to crack and crumble. Sensing the danger, they backed off. Coco grinned victoriously as she hit the ground again. The entire section shattered, rock and dust falling down with three Beacon Rangers in amongst it all.

Landing solidly on the ground, Neptune and Tsuruya looked up to see the massive Hydra before them. The monster spread its myriad heads in a display of its terrific might. The necks stretched twenty meters. Tsuruya made very good note of the fact that there were currently ten heads. The body was bulky and long, as long as a city block and tall as a five story building even without the heads.

Aiming his gun at the beast, Neptune wasn't sure which part to shoot first. "This is very bad. Where'd Coco go?"

Tsuruya looked down at her sword and beck up to the Hydra. "This isn't going to work. It has four more heads now. Did it just not show the other four or did we screw something up?"

Neptune sighed. "No. If I remember correctly, Hydra have ten heads by default. They grow more throughout a battle and shed the extra afterward. But, man… this is not good. It's a big one, and I've never heard of a Hydra fight without casualties."

Tsuruya nodded. "Yup, and I bet they always had more than three people, all better trained than us, and without the threat of more Grimm joining the fight at any moment."

He glanced over at her. "Oh, you read those files?"

She grinned. "Nope. Just watch a lot of anime. You ever see Beserk? That's what I'm thinking."

"Is that good?"

"Lotta people died in that anime."

"Forget I asked." Neptune shook his head. "Let's do this."

Tsuruya grinned. She charged the beast alone. "Leroy Jenkins!"

Ten heads made to intercept the charging girl. A rain of bullets from a nearby rooftop stole the attention of half the heads, and they turned to go after the source of the biting pain. Coco sprayed the Hydra from her high vantage point, ever muscle tensed and ready to run the moment it reached her.

Down below, the first head reached Tsuruya. She threw her sword, sticking it into the beaked face, and jumped over its attack. Grabbing the hilt of the sword while still in midair, she wrenched it free and landed on top of the beast. Disregarding its loud protest, she ran along its neck towards the body, slashing red lines into the flesh every step of the way. Another head bore down on her, missing narrowly as she danced out of the way. Its strong jaws instead clamped down on the neck of its brother.

Two more heads went in after her. She jumped over the first as it swooped in, then landed and rolled under the second. Suddenly, she backpedaled, leading a third attacker back through the same route. Under one neck and then over the next. The one she was running along turned back on itself to continue the chase, only to have her jump off and lead it through the now-tangled mess.

Knowing it wouldn't take too long for the five heads to sort themselves out, Tsuruya continued her charge on the ground. She made her way to the body just as the first of the five managed to free itself and follow her. Streaks of blue shot past her, punching holes into the body and pursuing head. It turned on Neptune, screeching for the others to take the blue-haired boy.

With time undeniably short, Tsuruya angled her sword toward the beast's right side. An aura of orange energy appeared around her, shooting down the blade and piercing the monster's scaled chest. The Hydra's back blew open in a shower of red and black. The ten heads shrieked in agony and began to spasm, thrashing wildly about and slamming into each other and the ground. Tsuruya barely managed to dodge out of the way before being crushed to death as the gigantic body fell to the ground.

Coco leaped down from the building and ran to Tsuruya's side. "How did you do that? That was amazing!"

Tsuruya looked along the length of her sword. "Uh… I just kinda did it. I projected my aura through my sword and shot a beam of awesome at it."

The body of the Hydra was already beginning to disintegrate. Neptune cautiously approached, prodding one of the long necks with his trident. Coco motioned for the two of them to move into position, snapping them out of the daze.

Pyrrha's voice cut the silence. "Looks like you got it. Velvet's coming in for a landing."

Coco tapped a radio device wrapped around her ear. "Understood. Come in to cover us. We're heading in."

While they waited for the others to join them, Tsuruya thought of something to ask. "Hey, do you guys have normal schools here?"

Coco looked back over her shoulder. "Normal?"

Tsuruya shrugged. "Yeah. Like, you have combat schools like Beacon and Signal, but do you have normal schools for people who want to be, like… a florist or… a plumber?"

Coco laughed. "Yeah, of course we do. Beacon has students from around the world, and the attendance is still much lower than any other school. It's very prestigious, so only a handful of teams get in every year. Combat schools like Signal get more students, but not by a very large margin. It's usually around seventy students a year for schools like that. The, uh… normal schools have a much higher attendance."

Tsuruya nodded. "Alright. So what do you think the global population is? I mean… was. Before the Grimm attacked."

Neptune spoke up. "I think I remember reading about that. It's not a statistic that's brought up much, but I believe the estimates were around six or seven million. That's including both Human and Faunus."

Tsuruya stopped, taking a moment to count something on her fingers. "Million… that's three less than a billion, right?"

Neptune was busy keeping an eye on the sky when he answered. "No… a billion is quite a bit bigger than that."

Tsuruya shook her head. "I mean, the number of zeroes. Million is six zeroes, and billion is nine, right?"

"Are you really asking me this?" Neptune turned to face Tsuruya. "Yes. Yes it is."

"Well my world has more than six billion people."

Neptune nearly dropped his gun. "Wha- six _billion_? That's more than the higher estimations for the Grimm population! I mean… geez, that word really just sounds incredible, doesn't it? You say 'billion' and you've pretty much lost credibility. That number is just… it's unfathomable."

Tsuruya nodded. "Yeah, it is pretty amazing."

Coco called over her shoulder. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't explode my team's brains while we're on a mission." She froze suddenly, every sense on alert. Tsuruya and Neptune froze as well. A moment later, Coco motioned ahead of her. "Grimm! It's underground! Coming up right there!"

Tsuruya looked where Coco had indicated and spotted a manhole cover. Coco and Neptune had their guns pointed at that very spot, ready to blast whatever popped its head up into a _billion_ pieces. They didn't have long to wait. The manhole cover flew into the air, smashing through the wall of a nearby building. The creature that crawled out was hideous, but laughably small after the Hydra.

It looked vaguely Human in shape, with only its legs still under the street. Its torso and head made it about two meters tall. Its long arms stretched down from hunched shoulders to the ground, three fingers on each hand gripping the pavement with suction-cupped tips. A mess of black tentacles squirmed on the back of its head, barely visible behind its flat, featureless face.

Coco grinned. "I got this one." Stepping forward, she opened fire on the Grimm. A constant stream of charged dust encased in hot lead shredded the seemingly defenseless creature, punching holes through its body and blasting off its limbs. Within a few seconds it was hanging out of the hole, limply sprawled across the street with its lower half still in the hole. Coco turned back to her team. "That was cathartic."

The street exploded behind her. Shocked, she only managed to turn around just in time to see the thing she'd blasted into oblivion hanging from a long appendage. It had no legs. It was attached to a massive gaping toothy maw that was now bearing down on her.

Coco disappeared from view as the maw snapped shut. Concrete and asphalt filled the air when the monster smashed through the street, showering Tsuruya and Neptune with debris. The force of the impact knocked them off their feet. Rearing its head, the massive Grimm made to roar at its prey. When it opened its mouth, however, only a wheezing gurgle came from it.

Tsuruya gasped. The monster was struggling, trying to close its mouth. In between its two jaws, Coco stood. Her weapon gone from sight, she held the mouth of the beast open with her bare hands. One hand pressed against the roof of its mouth, and one of her feet was jammed in between two teeth of the lower jaw. Her other hand was gripping a jagged tooth on the upper jaw, blood running down her arm. There was blood coming from her forehead as well.

The Grimm had had enough. A few thunderous coughs and one shake of its head later, Coco found herself forcefully removed from its mouth. She was hit in the side by a heavy, rock hard tongue. The jaws closed with crushing force right behind her. Coco crashed through the side of a building, smashing through the opposite wall as well before hitting the street with enough force to crack the pavement and send pieces flying in every direction.

The Grimm monster, finally without something stuck in its mouth, reared its head again and roared. The sound was deafening. Tsuruya had to cover her ears, and still it was overpoweringly loud.

Just as it was finishing its angered roar, several metal arrows struck the beast and exploded into flame. It drew back, large red eyes searching the ground for its attacker. More arrows, along with a barrage of rifle fire, peppered its thick hide. Then a sword flew through the air and stuck into its left eye.

On the roofs, Pyrrha and Cinder glanced over to Jaune. Pyrrha sighed. "At least you hit it."

Jaune laughed. "Yeah, didn't expect that." He called down to the others. "You two get Coco back to the bullhead! We'll take care of this thing!"

* * *

**Author's note: One giant Grimm falls and another rises! This is the work of Beacon Rangers! The hoo!**


	7. A Blue Candle

The head of the massive subterranean Grimm came crashing down on the roof where Jaune, Pyrrha, and Cinder had been standing moments earlier. Just under the creature's mass, Pyrrha landed on the ground. She swiveled and fired multiple rounds into its underbelly, punching a hole through the thick hide. Rearing back, it aimed for her and lunged. Spinning out of the way, she slashed the side of its head with the edge of her shield, splitting its skin again.

Jaune appeared from behind, launching himself through the beast's torso. Cinder leaped into the hole left by Jaune, situated in the Grimm's large worm-like body just below the head. She aimed upward and fired off three arrows simultaneously. The beast's head exploded into flames, and Cinder casually stepped out of the smoldering remains.

Tsuruya, helping Neptune drag Coco to the bullhead, spotted something black approaching from another direction. She patted Coco's shoulder, then dropped out from under her arm. "Neptune, get her the rest of the way. There's more Grimm coming."

Neptune called back. "Sure you can take them?"

Drawing her sword and grinning, the green-haired girl laughed. "They're small compared to that Hydra."

As Neptune kept going, Tsuruya positioned herself between her retreating teammates and the incoming Grimm. There was a good number, but they would all have to get past her, and they weren't all going to reach her at the same time. A pair of old concrete roadblocks served as a bottleneck for her, as well as some shielding. She was confident.

The frontrunners of the Grimm charge, a pair of Beowolves, leaped over the roadblocks on either side of her, aiming to slash her head off by catching her between two hefty swipes. One clawed hand on each side coming for her face, Tsuruya dodged left. She impaled the Beowolf that met her there, slicing the katana's blade through its body and up through its head. Now out of range for the other attack, she was able to lash out behind her and cut the second Beowolf's arm off at the shoulder.

Before she could finish it, the Grimm continued its charge after Coco and Neptune. Pyrrha appeared in front of it next, her weapon and shield stored on her back. She kneed it in the face, knocking it onto its back, then punched a hole in the ground through the Grimm's chest. Pulling her fist back up, she nodded to Tsuruya as Jaune and Cinder took up positions further alone the line.

"They can't get past all of us!"

On cue, a Boarbatusk rolled through the bottleneck. Tsuruya heard its approach, turning and stopping it in its tracks by spearing it through the head. She used its momentum to vault it over her head and send the dark corpse flying off to the side.

A small flock of Nevermores flew overhead, out of her reach. Several quickly exploded in succession, taken out by Pyrrha's marksmanship. She turned to keep going, combining her fire with Cinder's arrows to finish off the last few.

Tsuruya squinted into the distance, spotting quite a few scary new Grimm. Two large scorpions, probably Deathstalkers from the descriptions she'd been given, and several smaller creatures she guessed were Creeps. A number of more Beowolves, a dozen Ursa, and a few more Boarbatusks were at the head of the next wave. Still, behind everything else, she thought she could see something much smaller, walking upright. A person?

The Beowolf wave hit.

Leaning forward on one leg, she slashed upward and cut the head off one of the wolves, twisting and knocking its corpse aside in order to meet the next one and chop it clean in half. An orange glow began to wreath her blade, giving off the scent of oranges.

Bringing her sword around, she swiped up just short of the next Beowolf. A wave of orange energy came off the weapon, smashing through the Grimm and the three behind it. Stepping up onto a falling Grimm body, she launched herself into the air and slashed through the head of another Beowolf, landing amongst the pile of carnage she had created just as the Boarbatusks arrived.

Behind her, Pyrrha caught the five that had made it past Tsuruya. She had time to take down two with her rifle before being forced to switch back to her spear. She held it out, clutching it with both hands, barring the Beowolves from passing. When the first two reached her she slammed it up into their necks, knocking them back. To her surprise, the third leaped over them and her. It reached Jaune, and got bisected for its troubles.

Slamming the butt of her spear into the torso of the Beowolf on her left, sending it toppling back more, Pyrrha turned to focus on the other one. It growled at her, its momentum totally stopped, eyes darting around. She saw everywhere it looked, and when it charged ahead, she knew exactly where to send the head of her spear.

The one on the left was back, pushing to get past her. Sticking her leg out, she swept under the creature and sent it back to the ground. Ahead of her, she could see Tsuruya hacking and slashing at the rolling Boarbatusks. The pig-like Grimm had given up on their chase and were swarming around her, rolling back and forth in attempts to crush the girl. Four of them lay on the ground already, and five others had all taken damage.

The next wave arrived, led by an Ursa Major. The unusually huge Ursa roared and swiped its paw at Tsuruya. She managed to jump back, but dividing her attention gave the Boarbatusks an opening. Rolling past her, one after the other, the Grimm knocked her around. The Ursa Major struck again, batting Tsuruya away.

The girl hit the ground, rolling to a stop beside Pyrrha. She groaned. "That was too good to last, of course."

Pyrrha absently smashed the downed Beowolf's head into the ground, then stepped between Tsuruya and the charging Grimm. "Can you still go?"

Pushing herself up, Tsuruya nodded. "I think so. I'll just have to use my…" She turned to face the Grimm, gripping the handle of her katana in both hands. "MY FULL POWER!"

Pyrrha blinked. "What?"

Tsuruya sighed and shrugged. "It's an anime thing."

"Uhh… you're glowing."

Tsuruya looked down at herself, gasping in shock. Her entire body was glowing brightly, the orange aura surrounding her swirling around in the air. Tendrils of energy coiled around her arms, running off into the air and evaporating. The pavement beneath her feet began cracking and steaming. The blade in her hands was gleaming unnaturally, looking almost like something from that one sci-fi series…

"Fucking awesome…"

Ahead of them, the Grimm were approaching much more slowly. Warily, they stopped more then twenty meters away, creating a ring around the brightest aura they'd ever seen.

"_What is it doing?"_

"_That's impossible. How can it be so powerful?"_

"_We should retreat. There's no way to win this fight."_

Tsuruya looked around for the source of the voices. A quick glance told her that Pyrrha either hadn't heard them or didn't think anything of it. The Deathstalkers reached the back of the growing crowd of Grimm, snapping their claws anxiously.

"_This can't be… but how?"_

"_If she has this much power… she could save us."_

"_Then we must tell everyone. Immedi-"_

An Ursa at the front collapsed with half of its head blown away. Pyrrha pulled the trigger again, firing again and again into the crowd of Grimm. She kept firing, blasting the beasts to pieces like her life was on the line. Meanwhile, Tsuruya stood stunned. The light slowly faded from around her, seeping into the ground and air. The katana returned to its steely shade.

All Tsuruya could hear was screaming and shouting.

Ahead of her, behind the retreating Deathstalkers, the humanoid thing had stopped. It briefly held out its hand, reaching out to her.

"_You can save us. We will meet again."_

* * *

Reaching the bullhead, Neptune pushed Coco up into the transport. Carl helped her into a seat and fastened a harness around her. Velvet looked back at her teammate with concern, but was glad to see she was safe.

"You're in my care now, old friend."

Coco, still awake, heard this and offered a weak thumbs up. "I'm in good hands."

Carl hopped down into the ground beside Neptune. "Where are the others?"

Neptune readied his gun, aiming back the way he had come. "They're holding off the Grimm. They'll be along shortly."

Sure enough, Cinder and Jaune ran around the corner. They could hear Jaune's voice shouting over the sounds of a great many things chasing them. "Start taking off! Get moving! No time to wait!"

Carl nodded back to Velvet, then jumped up onto the side of the bullhead. "Get 'er ready!"

The engines had already started when the Grimm rounded the corner behind Jaune and Cinder. The two reached the bullhead just as it left the ground. Neptune ushered them in, and they took their seats.

Neptune turned back to the oncoming Grimm. "Where…" He glanced back to Jaune. "Where's Pyrrha and Tsuruya?"

Jaune leaned out a bit, then pointed upward. When Neptune looked, he saw the two girls running along the top of buildings, jumping from roof to roof, Beowolves chasing after them and snapping at their heels and Nevermores swooping down at them.

Neptune stepped up and grabbed a handle on the side of the bullhead. "Velvet, get up there! We need to be there when they get to the edge!"

Wasting no time at all, Velvet pulled her craft away from the ground and brought it up alongside the roof of the last building in the row. Neptune and Carl leaned away from the ship, reaching out to grab the girls and pull them aboard.

Tsuruya pulled ahead, sprinting the last rooftop and leaping onto the bullhead without assistance, rolling towards the other side. Jaune caught her and helped her up. Only a few seconds behind, Pyrrha felt the claws of a Beowolf brush her leg. Twisting around, she swatted the Grimm away with a backhand, sending it plummeting off the roof.

She had run out of room and, at the edge of the roof, Pyrrha fell. Neptune reached out further, catching and grabbing onto Pyrrha's outstretched arm. She swung under the bullhead for a moment before realizing she was not falling. Carl shouted at Velvet to move, head back to Beacon, and the bullhead began gaining altitude.

Launching itself off the rooftop after Pyrrha, a Creep managed to clamp its mouth down on her leg. Pyrrha cried out in pain, but didn't let that stop her. She made sure she had a tight grip on Neptune's arm with one hand, then reached over her shoulder with her other hand, retrieving her weapon. She aimed down and blasted a hole in the Creep's face. It hit the ground a moment later, already turning into wisps of black vapor.

Tossing her weapon up into the bullhead, Pyrrha began climbing Neptune's arm. At the soonest possible moment, she grabbed onto the side of the bullhead itself and started dragging herself in. Carl swung himself into the transport as well, kneeling down and helping her up.

Neptune looked down at the receding city below them as the gained more altitude. He pumped his fist out into the air. "That was great!"

Pyrrha chuckled. "Could have gone better, but we are all still here."

Velvet called back to them. "Nevermores incoming! I need defensive fire!"

Before they could figure anything out, a hail of large feathers flew past them. Four hit their marks, three of which pierced the top of the bullhead. Velvet cried out, and the aircraft started dropping. Coco started grabbing at her harness desperately. Tsuruya lay on the bottom of the craft, staring in shock at the tip of the feather that had buried itself in the seat beside Coco. The feather had gone right through the top and punched a big enough hole in the seat to kill anyone it might have hit. Thankfully, it hit no one.

Coco called to Velvet in the cockpit. "Are you alright? Are you hit?"

The bullhead straightened out, it's movement regaining direction, this time with an added sense of evasion. Velvet called back. "I'm fine! Just a scratch! I… I can't reach the landing gear or the breaks! We're heading back to Beacon! Is anyone back there hurt?"

Pyrrha watched, unable to respond to Velvet.

"Hello? Is everyone alright?"

Pyrrha gritted her teeth, feeling rage building inside her. Rage toward the Grimm. She watched as Neptune fell out of sight, into the broken buildings and burning ruins of Vale, with a Nevermore feather speared through his chest.


	8. The Hunt Begins

The bullhead approached Beacon Academy slowly, three Nevermore feathers sticking out the top. The hangar opened graciously, awaiting the limping aircraft. Wobbling in its descent, the bullhead was jarred when it slammed into the floor.

Pyrrha winced, bracing her leg with her hands. She wasn't really injured, but her leg was sore from the Creep's jaws. When the bullhead stopped moving, she nodded toward Cinder and Jaune. "Make sure Velvet is okay."

They climbed out, followed by Carl. The other boy glanced back briefly to make sure everyone was alright before turning and leaving the hangar. Coco let out a heavy sigh, but didn't try to move to fight with her harness. Tsuruya pushed herself onto her feet and looked around the craft. They all knew who they'd lost, but still it felt wrong. Incorrect.

A group of people arrived beside the bullhead carrying two stretchers with them. Two big men came in and helped Coco out, taking her to one of the stretchers. She was beat up, but not in any serious danger. Tsuruya hadn't even thought what the other stretcher was for until she heard the sound of a saw coming from the cockpit. There was a loud crack, mixed with Velvet crying out, and the sawing stopped. She watched them carry the second stretcher to the front of the bullhead, and then watched as the carried it away again, with Velvet laying on it.

Pyrrha called Tsuruya back to reality. "Velvet is stronger than she looks. She was able to land us, so she'll be fine." Looking back at the only person left in the bullhead, Tsuruya just quietly nodded. Pyrrha was sitting at the back, in the opposite corner. She shook her head. "Those monsters… They've killed too many people already. What do they want with us? Why are they doing this?"

Tsuruya opened her mouth to say that she didn't know, but she remembered something. "I… I heard voices." Pyrrha looked up, startled at that. Tsuruya lowered her gaze. "I think it was the Grimm. I think I heard their voices."

Pyrrha stood up, walking over to Tsuruya and looking down at her. "Of course. The Grimm have to have some way to communicate. To think that they're not intelligent is folly. In fact, we've been getting reports of a possible humanoid Grimm recently. No one is really sure what it looks like, so… I suppose it could be their attempt at infiltration."

"That's a pretty scary thought. Do you think they'd try something like that?"

Pyrrha began circling Tsuruya. "Well… who's to say they haven't already?"

Tsuruya turned to follow Pyrrha, really starting to not like where this was going. "What are you implying, huh?"

Pyrrha shrugged. "We don't know how there are so many different forms of Grimm. Perhaps they can shapeshift. If that were the case, we'd need some sort of test to make sure people were… people. Don't you think so?"

Tsuruya nodded. "Makes sense, but how could you tell them apart?"

"That would be a tough one, wouldn't it? I'd say… if you can really hear the Grimm speaking, then the answer is clear." She stepped back in front of Tsuruya. "We find a Grimm and make it tell us how."

"How do you think we do that?" Tsuruya was still on edge, unsure where Pyrrha's mind might be wandering. She had been sure, even if only momentarily, that the tall warrior girl was about to accuse her of being the humanoid Grimm. "It's not exactly easy to get them alone for a one on one chat. And I don't think anyone else is gonna be up for helping this plan."

"Well, I'm in." An unfamiliar girl jumped up into the bullhead and plopped herself down on one of the seats. "When do we go?"

Pyrrha looked the girl over briefly. "Um… excuse me. I don't believe we've met."

She stood up again, reaching her hand out to Pyrrha. "Oh, that's right. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm May."

Pyrrha sighed and shook her hand. "Hello, May. Do you have a reason to be in the hangar, volunteering for top secret and highly risky missions? I've never even seen you before."

May nodded, taking her hand back and brushing back some hair hanging down beside her face. Tsuruya noted that May was wearing a beanie pulled down over her left eye. That and the hoodie and track pants gave her a very normal look, yet quite distinctive.

Tsuruya commented before May could answer Pyrrha. "I like her. Let's bring her."

May chuckled. "Uh, okay. Well, actually, my team just got here."

"You just arrived?" Pyrrha asked, surprised. "Where did you come from?"

"Miss Zedong, Miss Nikos, you're needed in the assembly hall."

Jumping to respond, May leapt out of the bullhead and rushed on her way.

Pyrrha turned slowly to the source of the voice. She knew that voice. "Professor?" Sure enough, there he stood, shaggy grey hair, wire spectacles, black suit and vest, and a mug of coffee.

Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, nodded. "Hello again." He took a drink of coffee. "I see things have not been getting better around here. You heard me. To the assembly hall."

Pyrrha saluted, then rushed off as ordered. Ozpin remained, seeming to focus on his coffee. Tsuruya stood still in the bullhead, trying to figure out who this was. He was clearly important and high up in rank, but she hadn't seen him before. She supposed if he cared about her at all, he would say so.

He said so.

"You have an intriguing story about you. Hard to believe, for most." He reached his hand up to her. "I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon. How do you do?"

Tsuruya hopped down, and Ozpin lowered his hand to match. She took it and shook. "I'm Tsuruya." She paused, taking her hand back. "Sorry, but I… I don't feel that great. We just lost someone, and…"

Ozpin interrupted her. "Every life lost is a tragedy, regardless of who that life was. Now is the time in which we must act, or we will lose more than just one life." He lowered his voice. "The assembly hall. We have much to discuss."

Tsuruya followed Ozpin through the crowded halls, though she noticed in spite of many new faces and so many uniforms, there were less people. "Where is everyone?"

He answered without looking back. "A large portion of the non-combatant civilians have been moved to the underground sections of the academy. They will need the shelter."

Before Tsuruya could pursue that subject, Ozpin opened a door ahead of them and led her into the assembly hall. Inside the large room, every Huntsman and Huntress, every soldier and Beacon Ranger, they were all gathered together, crammed from wall to wall. Even on the stage at the front of the room, people stood and waited.

Ozpin disappeared, pushing through the crowd on his way to the stage. Tsuruya lost sight of him, but managed to find her way to someone she recognized. May nodded to her, quickly returning her attention to the front. Ozpin appeared again, on the stage right beside the microphone. Tsuruya figured now was the time for listening.

"You are gathered here, not because you are Huntsmen and Huntresses, but because you are all fighters. You are capable in battle. That is what we need today. I have just returned from the other three kingdoms, and have brought back every living soul I could find. Atlas' army is here, along with the remaining civilians from both Vacuo and Mistral. With this force, our plan is simple. We will destroy every Grimm on Remnant, our home."

Beside Tsuruya, May crossed her arms. "Is that even possible?"

Ozpin continued over the murmuring of the crowd. "That said, many of you have undoubtedly heard rumors of a Human-Form Grimm within the walls of Vale. Those rumors are true. We believe this Grimm to have a special standing among its kind, and plans are already being made to find it and capture it, or failing that, destroy it. The first three volunteers have already spoken, but for such a dangerous mission we need a stronger team. No one will be ordered into this, and it is far from safe. Casualties are to be expected."

May turned to Tsuruya. "Was he talking about us? Is it too late to back out?"

Some girl at the front of the crowd shouted, hefting a spear into the air. "The four of us are in, sir!"

A man's voice, startlingly familiar, also called out. "If you will permit, I would gladly command this excursion!"

Jaune's voice followed. "Count me in!"

Nora's immediately followed. "So are me and Ren!"

Sun was next, raising his weapon above his head. "My team is in! For Neptune!"

"You can count us in as well, Oz."

The headmaster glanced over at a messy raven-haired man and a tidy militant-looking girl. They both nodded. Ozpin turned back to the crowd. "Will that be all?"

Emerald waved her hand over her head. "Me and Merc will go along too. With Neo."

"Don't forget about me!" A silly-looking redheaded girl waved her hand, then saluted smartly. "I'm combat ready!"

Ozpin waited a moment before nodding and speaking into the microphone again. "Then head out. You begin now. Your pilot is waiting."

* * *

Tsuruya walked with the group of volunteers. Many of them were strangers to her, but she was glad they weren't alone in this. They entered the hangar together, spotting the large airship that would carry them to their mission. It was apparently Atlas tech, and carried several mechs that were referred to as Paladins. It also came with living quarters, which told her it was capable of being a flying base of operations for them.

Doctor Oobleck stepped in front of the crowd, backed by the messy man and military woman. "Alright, then. We don't have much extra time for a mission briefing, but here's what we have. We will be sweeping through the entire kingdom of Vale non-stop until we find this creature and defeat it one way or another. There will undoubtedly be constant battle against the creatures of Grimm, but this is what you all trained for."

The pilot appeared, stepping down the ramp in front of them. He straightened his hat and slid his cane down through his hands until it lightly tapped the ramp. "And your lives are in my hands. Oh, who, I wonder, do I have to thank for getting pushed into this?"

Pyrrha glared at him. "Roman. What are you doing here?"

The criminal waved his free hand at her. "Apparently someone told Ozpin I was the best pilot we had left. So unlike the lot of you, I was in fact forced into this."

The messy man chuckled. "You were the one who asked for this job."

Oobleck called them back to the matter at hand. "Time is short, gentlemen. Torchwick is our pilot for the time being, and as he is the best pilot among us he will be subject to particular… protections. Now, aside from myself, command will fall upon these two. Professor Branwen," he pointed to the messy man, "and Miss Schnee." He pointed to the woman on the other side of him.

Professor Branwen, as Oobleck had referred to him, waved his hand. "Just call me Qrow."

Not to be outdone, the woman nodded. "And you may call me Winter."

Oobleck stopped the unnecessary chatter a second time. "We will have a quick roll call before moving out. If your name does not come up, let me know. If your name does come up and you are not here, also let me know."

Winter and Qrow exchanged an odd glance behind Oobleck's back.

The bespectacled Doctor began. "Winter Schnee. Qrow Branwen. Roman Torchwick. Jaune Arc. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. Lie Ren. Sun Wukong. Scarlet David. Sage Ayana. Nebula Violette. Dew Gayl. Gwen Darcy. Octavia Ember. Emerald Sustrai. Mercury Black. May Zedong. Penny Polendina."

Tsuruya frowned. "Umm… you forgot me."

He grimaced. "It has come to my attention that I do not know your first name."

"Yes you do. It's Tsuruya."

"Alright then. Tsuruya Tsuruya."

"Uh, wait, that's not-"

"And Neopolitan!" He vanished in a blur, racing up the ramp past Roman. A moment later he called down the ramp. "Let's get a move on! We are now several minutes behind schedule!"

As everyone made their way into the airship, Tsuruya was left standing at the bottom of the ramp. "I'm Japanese. My first name is my family name."

Neo casually walked past her, only slowing to turn and curtsy to her before heading up the ramp.

* * *

**Next chapter: Team JNPR action! Team NDGO action! Penny action! Winter and Qrow and Roman action! It's headed towards the mid-point of the story! Hope you're all as pumped as I am!**


	9. Both Ends

**"****A million voices across Remnant, shouting out in united defiance, was a shiver up my spine. But now that million has been reduced piece by piece down to a few thousands. That small and shrinking noise, being stamped out before me, is the signal of victory.**

**For now, across this ruined world, where once a proud race stood instead stands the savage burning hunger and rage of the Grimm. Billions of claws and jaws snapping, roars loosed to the sky, and more terrible things crawling out of sight. They gather now, directed towards Vale, to vanquish that long thorn in my side once and for all. Their vanguard comes to meet us. They will be met with horrors they have never imagined."**

* * *

Tsuruya sat on the top step leading from the on-board barracks to the Paladin hangar, looking out over the large compartment meant to hold the mecha. She, of course, had to wonder if anyone on the Atlesian Airship actually knew how to drive such a vehicle. They wouldn't help much just sitting around on their own.

"Winter says they have limited A.I. that allows them to essentially drive themselves."

Tsuruya turned to look over her shoulder. "Pyrrha, hi. Uh, oh… really? That's pretty cool. That means we don't have to worry about driving them ourselves, right?"

Pyrrha nodded. "That about sums it up."

An awkward silence hung over them for several seconds too long before Tsuruya managed to find something more to say.

"When we were on the street, when I heard the Grimm voices. I think I saw the humanoid Grimm. It told me something… 'You can save us,' it said. What do you think that means?"

Leaning idly against the wall, Pyrrha fixed her eyes on the deck. "Listen, Tsuruya. I don't know what you thought you heard, but I know what I heard. I was right there with you. I wasn't sure I wanted to say this before, but I think you should at least understand. I thought I heard the voices too."

Turning all the way and standing up, Tsuruya stood in front of Pyrrha and grabbed her shoulders. "Wait, hold up. You heard it too? That's what you're telling me? Then what was with all that creepy talk? You made me feel like you thought I was a Grimm."

Pyrrha brushed Tsuruya's hands off her. "Trust me, that possibility hasn't escaped me. But seeing as we _both_ heard those voices, I have to consider that it was either a byproduct of your aura, possibly your semblance, which precludes you being a Grimm, or the cause was something else that was present. Now, you say you think you saw the humanoid Grimm. That may be the source. Who knows what it's really capable of?"

"You thinking telepathy?"

"What?" Pyrrha shook her head and started walking away from the hangar. "The voices we heard were from the Grimm right in front of us. They were talking. Something, maybe the humanoid Grimm, translated for us."

"Okay, wait." Tsuruya skirted around Pyrrha and stopped her. "What if… now, hear me out on this, but what if Grimm could speak all along and just never had any reason to?"

Pyrrha closed her eyes. "I don't think so. That just doesn't make sense."

"No, I'm serious." She took a deep breath. "Okay, what if they were looking for someone in particular and they just weren't going to talk to anyone else."

"What, you think it's just because of you? You think the Grimm were capable of talking through all of Human history, but they chose to wait until _you_ showed up? What makes you so special, Tsuruya?"

The shorter girl took a step back, rubbing the back of her head self-consciously. "Um… well, I'm… I'm not from around here."

Pyrrha thought through everything she knew about Grimm, and about Tsuruya. "Is… is it possible that the Grimm… originally came from your world? Would that help explain it?"

"Uh…" Tsuruya shrugged. "It might explain it, but I don't think they come from Earth. There would be some record of it. That is, of course, if Humanity could survive the Grimm to begin with, which I don't think we were capable of for the majority of our history."

"Yes, but what about before recorded history? Perhaps they haven't been in your world for thousands of years."

"It would have to be, like, four thousand years at least. That's when our recorded history starts getting a bit fuzzy. I think there would be some very distinct records of them if they'd been on Earth six or even eight thousand years ago. Plus, they would definitely have killed all of us back then." Tsuruya just offered another shrug. "Unless some people with super powers came and defended us from the Grimm, that is. My point is, I don't think the Grimm are from Earth."

"Remnant's recorded history isn't remotely that long. Beyond maybe a thousand years, everything is just lost." Pyrrha paused, then walked around Tsuruya and continued on her way. "I think it would be nice to learn more about your world. What can you tell me?"

Tsuruya followed the redheaded warrior, happy to talk about home. "Well, aside from thousands of history, which we learn more about every day, and there being no Grimm preventing us from exploring everywhere, Earth is seven continents, close to seven billion people, and almost two hundred countries."

"Sounds over-crowded."

"Well, there are a lot of places that are really crowded. Tokyo City, for example, though Paris isn't any better. China and India are pretty bad too, and those are big countries. The oceans are huge, and a lot of the land is deserts and mountains and forests."

Pyrrha stopped in front of the door that led to the bridge. She didn't turn around when she spoke. "And there's no Grimm anywhere on Earth? It sounds wonderful. Paradise, even."

"I don't know if I would say that, exactly." Tsuruya sheepishly scratched at her neck. It felt kind of like a betrayal to tell someone all the bad things about her planet. "I mean, sure there are no Grimm, but that just means we can focus on fighting with each other more. Just in the past hundred years, there were two wars, we call them the World Wars. Not many countries managed to stay out of those. People divide themselves by country, skin color, religion, or whatever else, and use those things as excuses for genocide."

Pyrrha looked confused. "Color? People in your world kill each other over… skin color?"

"It's a long story. It's… kind of like the deal with the Faunus, but… not really."

The door opened, and a tall girl with sandy blonde hair ushered them in. "Good, you're here. We're about to reach our destination."

Pyrrha nodded and walked past the girl. "So we hit the ground and spread out, clearing every Grimm we find. Right?"

Tsuruya stopped and held her hand out to the girl. "Hi. We haven't met yet. I'm Tsuruya."

The girl accepted, shaking her hand. "Dew Gayl. My team is over there." She nodded towards three other girls. "Team NDGO."

"You guys look ready for anything."

"I hope we are, but I hope we don't let it get to our heads. Nebula has that problem sometimes." She shook her head. "If we stick together, we'll be fine."

They joined the rest of the group, who were standing around a holographic display of the city of Vale. It wasn't nearly big enough to show smaller Grimm, but there were large red splotches in the air above it, showing the massive Grimm up in the clouds. They could also just make out a few of the giant Grimm they'd already fought and destroyed. Tsuruya felt like she could take on a Hydra with just a little help, but the Doom Worms were a bit much.

Jaune pointed at the side of the display closest to him. "So we're going to drop off here and spread out. Teams converge on the big ones nearest to that point. JNPR will head after this Charlottain, Emerald, Mercury, and Neo will hit this Goliath, Sun's team and Qrow will go after that Hydra, and NDGO will take out this… um… thing."

Winter looked closer at the 'thing'. "I'll be going with Emerald's team. And I believe that's Raivern."

Qrow chuckled. "Raivern. Who named these? Good luck with that, girls."

Nebula smiled. "We'll go easy on him." There was an audible groan from one of her teammates, though when she looked she couldn't figure out which one it was.

Tsuruya spoke up. "That leaves me with May… and who?"

Doctor Oobleck patted a young redheaded girl on the shoulder. "Myself and Miss Polendina. We'll be heading up the middle of the pack. There doesn't appear to be any large enemies in that path, but no doubt they've made up for that with numbers."

Roman called back from the cockpit. "We've got incoming! Nevermores, Griffons, and some big dragon thing! Everyone to the exit ramp!" He looked over the incoming Grimm. "I don't think there will be a return flight."

The rush to the back of the airship was orderly, but fast. The ramp opened, and a Griffon immediately stuffed itself in, tearing at the Paladin's and throwing them out the back. Pyrrha hit the beast first, slicing off one of its front legs before continuing on to the ramp. Nora hit it next, smashing its head against the ceiling with her hammer. Team JNPR was the first out. Tsuruya had to wait and watch everyone else jump out before she could see where her team was. May and Oobleck jumped out without a moment's notice.

Penny turned to Tsuruya and saluted. "Let's go, teammate Tsuruya! Victory awaits!"

"Sure it does."

Penny grabbed her hand and hauled her out. They fell out of the sky and landed on the roof of a three-story building. Tsuruya drew her sword as she scanned the rooftops around her. She could only spot Nora and May, both of which quickly jumped down out of sight. It was clear why they disappeared.

Two Griffons swooped down after her and Penny, screeching as they dived. Penny ducked under the claws of one Griffon as it soared by, and Tsuruya cleaved the wing off the other, causing it to crash into the roof and tumble over the edge.

Penny stood up and pointed overhead. "The airship isn't going to last."

They watched as a pair of Nevermores tore one of the wings off the airship. A Griffon got in through the ramp, and the rest of the Paladins were thrown out behind it. Nevermore feathers pummeled the top, and several of the giant black birds landed on it to force it down. It keeled to one side just as Roman smashed his way out the front of the cockpit and leaped out. He disappeared as the ship crashed down around him and exploded into flames.

Penny turned and nodded to Tsuruya. "We should find our teammates. I believe Miss May was this way."

"Yeah…" Tsuruya didn't know how to take how Penny seemed completely unaffected by Roman's death. The best she could figure was that she saw something Tsuruya had missed. "Are we going to try and find Roman?"

Penny shook her head. "I would not advise it. If he survived, he can handle himself. He is an adult, after all."

They jumped down to the street, and Tsuruya had to ask. "Are you even an adult?"

Penny turned around and smiled innocently. "Nope!" She saluted again. "I can definitely handle myself, though."

A Boarbatusk crashed into the building across the street and collapsed. Immediately after, the heads of several Beowolves further down the street were blasted apart. Doctor Oobleck appeared like a hurricane, stopping in front of them. May jogged up behind him and shouldered her rifle.

The tall professor took a drink out of his ridiculous weapon, then fixed the three girls with a serious look from behind his reflective glasses. "Class is in session. You will be graded on a combination of your Grimm kill count and ability to survive the mission. Good luck."

* * *

**Author's Note: You won't have to wait so long for updates anymore. It's gonna be hard work, but I'm getting this back on track and moving.**

**The next few chapters will be almost entirely fighting Grimm, which will certainly be a lot of fun for me.**


	10. Street-Fighting

Tsuruya took a moment to watch as Penny produced a dozen sword blades from the pack on her back. All she could think was that this girl was obviously secretly a piece of tech and not flesh and blood. She wasn't about to tell Penny that she'd figured it out, because her experience in anime and movies had told her that sometimes robots don't know they're robots, and when they find out they go crazy.

She opted for the simpler approach. She pointed at Penny as the girl (she'd decided that, robot or not, Penny was a girl and a person) dispatched another Beowolf, and shouted above the sounds of battle. "That's awesome!"

Penny clasped her hands together. "Thank you! My father gave it to me."

Tsuruya smirked. She even talked like a robot.

May jumped over Tsuruya's head, bicycle kicking a small Nevermore out of the air. She landed the bladed stock of her rifle on the evil bird, killing it, then flipped her rifle around and fired one shot into the Boarbatusk that had been bent on crushing her and Tsuruya, stopping it dead in its tracks only a few inches from the end of her barrel. Tsuruya dashed around May, slicing through an approaching Beowolf.

Doctor Oobleck appeared briefly. "Good work, girls! We're almost at the intersection!" Then he disappeared again in a blur of Huntsman.

The three girls looked ahead to the aforementioned intersection just in time to see a pack of Beowolves round the corner, charging straight for them. Penny collected up her swords, mastering them like a puppeteer, and launched them at the pack. Each sword hit its mark, seven killing the Beowolves instantly. Five more kept coming regardless. Penny pulled back, and the Beowolves went flying through the air to where they all crashed into a brick wall.

May opened fire, picking off as many as she could before the pack hit them. Seeing that her team had it covered, Tsuruya started looking around for something else to do. She could see the whirlwind that was Oobleck through the windows of the building next to her. He was clearing out each building as they went, ensuring that nothing came up behind them.

Something crawled into view on top of the building. It was definitely Grimm, but she hadn't seen it before. Its head looked like some American horror movie monster. Its six legs dug into the brick, allowing it to crawl down the side of the building, and its scorpion-like tail looked like it could shoot something. She wasn't keen to find out what.

Glancing over, she saw that the Beowolves were all dead. She tapped May on the shoulder and pointed at the strange new Grimm. "What is, uh… that thing?"

May looked up and went pale. "Scorpamander?" It sounded like a question, so Tsuruya guessed that she didn't know either.

Tsuruya suggested, "We should kill it, then."

May nodded. "Oh yeah."

Penny saluted dutifully, despite the fact that neither of them were looking her way. "Let's do it to it!"

The Scorpamander fired a red beam from its tail. Penny jumped forward, deflecting the attack with one of her swords. May and Tsuruya jumped back. May opened fire, peppering the Grimm's hide with shots that seemed to do little damage. Tsuruya ran around Penny and dashed up the wall. She knew it wasn't really a thing normal Humans did, but she figured she could because she was on Remnant and had an aura.

Dashing past the Scorpamander, she severed all three legs on its right side. It lost its footing, crashing down to the ground and smashing the sidewalk. Penny sent four of her blades into it, and it went still. Tsuruya landed on the edge of the building's roof, looking down at her victory.

May sighed, looking at her weapon. "Damn. I think that thing has a high resistance to bullets. I wasted a full clip, and you guys killed it with swords."

Penny nodded. "The important thing is that we beat it! Now, on to the intersection!"

"Can you not yell, maybe?"

Penny's gaze fell to the ground and she backed away timidly. "Sorry. I was just so excited about getting to do battle and make friends."

Tsuruya landed beside them, beaming at her ability to jump off of buildings without a care. She placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "Sounds like a great idea! Let's go make friends with some Ursa!"

Penny brightened up. "Yes, let's!"

Three Ursa, as well as an Ursa Major, came running through the intersection. The three girls turned to face them, readying their weapons. May opened fire, her shots slowing down one of the Ursa enough that the Ursa Major overtook it. Penny threw her swords at the Ursa Major, spearing it in its legs and dropping it to the ground. Tsuruya ran ahead, aiming for one of the other Ursa. She skidded to a stop in front of it, turning to a back-flip. At the end of the flip, landing on her feet again, she drove her sword up into the Ursa's head.

Penny drew back her swords and ran toward the Ursa Major. Five of her swords gathered around her hand, forming a star-shaped array that began spinning rapidly. The rest of the blades returned to the pack on her back. She ran along beside the Ursa Major as it was trying to stand up. The array, practically a rotary saw, sliced the monstrous Grimm's belly. It fell down again, splitting open.

Tsuruya ran around the final Ursa, as May's target died, attacking from the far side. She jumped up and kneed it in the face, knocking it onto its side. It pushed itself up just in time for Tsuruya to remove the top of its head with her sword.

They stood among the evaporating bodies of the Grimm.

Doctor Oobleck appeared again. "Excellent! Most excellent indeed! Tell me, what are your respective kill counts?"

Tsuruya and May exchanged a confused look. May shrugged. "I forgot to keep count."

Tsuruya nodded. "I lost count after the first two or three. I might be around twelve by now."

Penny raised her hand. "I'm on twenty-eight and a half! I decided to divide the Scorpamander between myself and Miss Tsuruya!"

Tsuruya gasped in surprise. "Wha- I won't be beaten by a robot!" She stopped when she realized that she'd said that out loud.

Penny was taken aback. "A robot? I am not a robot. Do you even know what the word 'robot' means?"

"Um…"

"It means 'slave'. Do I look like a slave to you?" She immediately answered her own question. "Not at all. I look like a girl. And I am one. I'm just… a mechanical girl."

Oobleck looked on silently, drinking from his weapon. When it looked like it was over, he spoke again. "Nevertheless, I am glad to see that you are all feeling competitive about this. Come now! There's always more Grimm!" He zipped away.

Tsuruya rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry. Blame it on English not being my first language, but I did not know 'robot' meant 'slave'. I thought it was just a word for a mechanical thing that moves on its own."

Penny cocked her head to the side. "Perhaps the word you were looking for is 'android'. It could be a good way to describe what I am." She narrowed her eyes. "And I'm also a Huntress."

Tsuruya shook her head. "I don't think I like the idea of being beaten by an android either. How about… friend?"

Penny's eyes went wide. "Friend?!"

Tsuruya grinned awkwardly. "Sure. We could be friends, and I'm fine with losing to a friend."

Penny gasped. "I've never had a friend before!"

May, who had been quietly watching, waiting to see how it ended, was surprised by this revelation. "What? For real?"

Penny looked starstruck, gazing at Tsuruya through her fingers as her hands were on her face. "Yes."

"And you want to be her friend?"

"I do."

"And you're okay with competing against her being the first thing you do together?"

"Yes, bring it on."

May shrugged, letting out a long sigh. She reached up and pulled off her beanie. "Well, okay. Me too. I'll be your friend too."

After a few moments passed, Tsuruya stepped forward and waved her hand in front of Penny's face. "And… she's gone. Too much friendship all at once. Error, error. is shutting down. Initiate reboot."

May grimaced. "This is not the time or place for this. Pick her up and let's go."

Tsuruya fixed her with a glare. "You carry her. She was going to be able to cope with one friend, but you had to go and double the shock. Plus, she's made of metal. She probably weighs several tonnes."

Penny snapped back to reality. "Excuse me? I weigh only one third of a tonne! I'll have you know I've been on a strict diet recently!"

"Diet?" Tsuruya looked Penny up and down. "Do you eat anything at all?"

"Um…" Penny looked away nervously. "Oh look, more Grimm."

May lifted her rifle. "Creeps. This won't be so hard."

Just as they were running across the intersection, the horde of Creeps was suddenly wiped out as a giant Grimm fell out of the sky and crushed them. One Creep had managed to escape the destruction, and kept running towards the girls. May blasted it in the face, knocking it onto its back. They all looked up at the mass of the giant Grimm. It wasn't moving.

"I think it's dead." Tsuruya started laughing. "That was awesome!"

The four members of team NDGO appeared, climbing off of the body of the Raivern. Dew waved to Tsuruya, who waved back. They ran over, keeping their eyes on the sky.

Dew stopped in front of Tsuruya. "Well, we made it this far. Want to go together for a bit?"

Penny thrust her fist into the air. "Yeah! Girl power!"

Dew introduced her team. "By the way, this is Gwen and Octavia. They put the 'GO' in NDGO. Literally. Like, their names are why there is a G and an O in the team name."

Nebula hefted her crossbow. "You're not going to introduce me?"

"Nah. We got to get moving."

Tsuruya waved to the two girls who had been introduced. "So… do you guys get any lines?"

Dew turned and rushed away, back to the disintegrating Raivern. Nebula, Penny, and May quickly followed. Octavia just shrugged in response to Tsuruya's question, then left after them.

Gwen watched her go, then turned back to Tsuruya. "She did that on purpose."

Tsuruya sheathed her sword and clapped her hands. "Yup. We're practically magical girls. This is so cool."

"I think…" Gwen shook her head. "Aura and semblance is a very well-documented scientific phenomenon. Nothing magical about it."

"That's not the point. We're a bunch of girls with cool powers fighting monsters to save the whole of humanity."

Gwen thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Fair enough." She turned around. "Ah… where'd they all go?"

They were quiet for a moment, listening for the sounds of battle nearby. There was nothing. Everything had gone completely silent.

Tsuruya took her sword out again. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Five Huntresses together in a group, actively hunting Grimm? I doubt something got them."

"I'm more concerned about the two Huntresses."

Gwen pulled six knives out of the armored sides of her dress, holding three between her fingers in each hand. "You're right. That's something to be worried about."

"By the way. What do you call a big ugly gorilla Grimm?"

Gwen made a face. "Ugh. Those are called Beringel, I think."

"Well, that's fitting. Cause it's bearing down on us right now."

Gwen turned to find the gorilla Grimm charging madly. It roared, shattering the silence as it leaped in the air and beat its chest. It landed right in front of Gwen and punched her solidly in the chest, sending her bouncing along the ground and into an old wrecked car. It went after Tsuruya next.

Tsuruya slashed at the Beringel with her sword, but the blade seemed to do next to nothing against its thick skin. It wrapped its hands around her and lifted her into the air, roaring in rage at her.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Penny action! She is actually not concerned about her weight. She was trying to make a joke. It fell through. Anyways... dicks out for Harambe.**


	11. Tremoring

"I'm sorry I called you ugly!" Tsuruya shouted apologies at the Beringel as it swung her around, smashing her into the ground and into walls. Finally, it let go, sending her bouncing across the cracked pavement and into the same car Gwen had been sent into.

Tsuruya sat up, bumping her head on the warped steering wheel. "Oof. That hurt."

Gwen pushed her way out from under the hood. "Okay, how do we kill it? Beringel are extremely tough."

Tsuruya kicked out the door and crawled out onto the street, looking around for the gorilla Grimm. It wasn't anywhere in sight, which only made her more worried. Gwen climbed over her and stood up, brushing off her combat skirt. Tsuruya was about to warn her to be careful when the Beringel returned.

It landed on top of Gwen, smashing her into the ground. Its large hands gripped her waist and lifted her up, bringing her crashing down into the ground over and over again. Tsuruya couldn't even tell if Gwen was conscious or alive, the way it was flailing her around. She readied her sword to try and distract the monster in any way she could.

An arrow shot in from somewhere down the street, piercing into the Beringel's eye. It dropped Gwen and staggered back, ripping the arrow from its eye and hurling it away. It snorted and beat its chest, challenging its attacker. It walked over Gwen, stepping on her leg as it went. Tsuruya saw her wince at the pain, which was a good sign.

Once the Beringel was moving away, Tsuruya crawled out the rest of the way and grabbed Gwen, helping her up. "Let's get out of here. How bad are you hurt?"

Gwen stuck out her tongue. "I think I'm going to throw up. Where'd it go?"

"Someone got its attention."

That 'someone' appeared the next moment, colliding with the same car they both had and landing in the trunk. Nebula pulled herself out, shaking off the hit. The Beringel threw the next attacker as well, and Octavia collided with Nebula. A moment later, she stood and forced her way out of the car.

Gwen waved at her teammates. "Where's Dew?"

Nebula, who had given up on moving for the time being, answered through a fair bit of pain. "Everyone else was right behind us. It'll probably throw her next."

Tsuruya and Gwen looked over just in time to see Dew tear the head off of the Beringel. She kept running in their direction, like the gorilla was just an aside. It made sense the next instant as a large rhino-like Grimm crashed through one of the near buildings. More Beowolves and Ursa followed after it, backed by several various crustacean Grimm.

Out of the smoke and dust of the collapsing building, Penny arrived. She landed on the rhino-Grimm's back, swinging her swords around like some carnival ride. She slashed them through the monster's neck and hide, causing it to roar in pain before tumbling onto its side and sliding to a stop. Penny leaped off and beheaded a Beowolf before landing on another one.

May dropped down from the top of some building and landed beside Tsuruya. "Hey, we wanted to find the Human-form Grimm, right?"

Tsuruya nodded. "We need to meet up with Pyrrha first. I think we were going to do that on day two?"

May didn't look too happy about waiting, but she shrugged. "Better than day five."

Dew skidded to a halt in front of them, hoisting her weapon over her head. "They're pushing back. Don't let them stop us!" She immediately charged back the way she came, destroying a trio of Beowolves along the way. Octavia followed without question.

Nebula took a moment to look over Gwen and Tsuruya. "You two should probably take a break somewhere."

May patted her rifle. "I'll get them inside somewhere. Don't worry."

As Nebula rushed off, Tsuruya and Gwen hobbled over to the nearest door. May ran ahead, kicking open the door and sweeping the room. She stepped back and held the door open for them. It was an old dust shop on the first floor, with probably living areas on the two upper floors. There was a door at the back that most likely would lead to a stairwell. It looked like a Grimm had busted its way through the window at some point, wrecking all the dust canisters and knocking over the shelves.

Gwen frowned. "Perfect. This won't explode ever at all."

Tsuruya wasn't sure how sarcastic the remark was. "Um… explode?"

"Don't worry about it. If you stay down and keep quiet, no Grimm will find you so nothing has to explode." May waved goodbye. "We'll come and get you once this charge is done." With that, she was gone.

For several minutes following, there was nothing but the sounds of roaring, screeching, and gunfire coming from outside. They took shelter at the back of the store, behind a rack of magazines that were mostly about guns. Every now and then, something heavy would hit the ground and cause everything to shake. Somehow, Gwen had fallen asleep in all of this, leaning on Tsuruya's shoulder.

The light from outside was fading when Nebula and May came back. They looked like they had been fighting the entire time, easily several hours. May had lost her beanie somewhere along the way, and Nebula's clothes were torn in a number of places. They smiled when they saw that Tsuruya and Gwen were safe. May stayed at the front of the store, looking out and scanning the streets with her finger on the trigger.

Nebula knelt down and shook Gwen awake. "Come on. We've set up camp in the subway."

Gwen blinked a few times, then rubbed her eyes with her hands. "Oh, oh, I fell asleep. I guess I'm gonna be first watch, huh?"

"Probably." Nebula helped them both to their feet and was about to lead them back out when the building shook. May and Gwen fell over, and Tsuruya and Nebula hugged the wall until it stopped. Once the tremors were over, Nebula lifted her weapon and pointed it at the other end of the store. "Was that a Grimm?"

The fallen shelves across the store shifted, several items tumbling onto the ground from their places, glass shattering and dust puffing up in a cloud of mixed colors. Nebula raised her crossbow to her eye and stalked forward, watching everything ahead of her. Something was moving beneath the fallen shelves.

Everyone else had righted themselves. May urged the others towards the front, looking back and forth between the street and the shelves. Unfortunately, it was when she was looking at the shelves that something broke the asphalt on the street. It was a small crack that she would have spotted if she were looking when it formed, but didn't notice when she turned back.

Nebula lowered her crossbow when she was about halfway across the store. "I don't know what those tremors were, but they're gone now."

The floor caved downward a split second before a large, toothy, worm Grimm erupted from underground right under Nebula. Her legs disappeared into its maw and it clamped its jaws down on her waist. There was only about three seconds when everyone was frozen, three seconds in which it thrashed around its head, digging its teeth into Nebula's legs and body. Gritting her teeth through the pain, Nebula angled her crossbow downward and pulled the trigger, shooting a bolt into the worm's jaw.

It let out a wail from somewhere underground, the spat her out through the window. May fired three shots at it, backing out into the street. Tsuruya and Gwen climbed out through the window and dashed over to Nebula. Gwen grabbed her team leader and tried to haul her up onto her feet. Nebula collapsed right away. Her legs were a bloody mess, covered in gashed all the way up to her midsection.

She coughed up some blood. "It crushed my legs. I'm not moving."

May ran past them. "It's time to go!"

Gwen grabbed Nebula again, intending to carry her. "We're not leaving you here!"

The street cracked open and Nebula slid into the hole. Gwen held on, keeping her from disappearing into the darkness below them. Tsuruya grabbed her other hand, and they pulled her up together. Nebula protested, trying to get them to leave her behind, right up until they finally laid her down on the pavement.

Gwen tried to get under her arm to lift her. "We're going to get you back, and you'll be fine. Tsuruya, help me."

Just as Tsuruya got under Nebula's other arm, some tentacle appendage tipped with a toothy mouth latched onto Gwen's leg. It pulled her to the ground and dragged her away.

Nebula struggled to reach out to her. "Gwen! Take my hand!"

Gwen reached back, and another snaky mouth bit her arm. Three more grabbed her, two on her legs and one on her other arm. They lifted her into the air. More snake heads rose up out of the ground, but these ones were much larger. More than half a dozen heads that could have easily swallowed a car, each surrounded by a swarm of the smaller ones. The closest one was bearing down on Gwen. The smaller tentacles threw her up into the air, where the big one caught her between its jaws.

Tsuruya could see there was nothing she could do. Between Gwen's screams and Nebula's, she just wanted to get out. She started dragging Nebula, but she had no doubts this monstrous Grimm could catch them in an instant.

Another big head came after Gwen, seeing that its companion had only caught her legs, and bit down on the rest of her. They ripped her in half and occupied themselves with finishing that one meal before heading off for another.

It was almost worse for Tsuruya when Gwen's screams stopped. Nebula was choking on her tears and trying to scream through them. She kept going in spite of it, trying to put as much distance between her and the Grimm as she could. She forced herself not to look when the subterranean Hydra let out a horrid chorus of shrieks, which were followed by the ground shaking and cracking around them. She didn't want to see it coming. Something was speeding towards them.

Qrow grabbed the two girls and lifted them under his arms, then ran. He darted in and out of alleyways, and even through several buildings and a pack of Beowolves. Finally, he arrived at the entrance to the subway. May and Oobleck were standing outside, waiting for them. The three ran down into the subway together.

Everyone was there, only visible by the faint light of a lantern. Qrow dropped Tsuruya so he could offer more care to Nebula, who had gone into shock. Dew and Octavia ran over and helped him set her down. Tsuruya backed away from the scene, feeling very responsible for everything that had just happened. She didn't know what she was supposed to do now. A strong hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away from the group.

Pyrrha quieted her with a finger on her lips. "Follow me."

Tsuruya just wanted to stop and rest for the whole night, but she followed Pyrrha. It was down the tracks of the subway quite a ways before Pyrrha opened a door and showed Tsuruya through. Inside was what she'd heard referred to as a Creep. It was trapped behind steel pipes and re-bar, set up like a prison cell.

Pyrrha smiled. "I got one. How do you feel about torture?"

"It's a violation of Human rights."

"Yeah, me too. Good thing they're not Human in any sense." She shut the door, then smacked the bars of her makeshift jail with her spear. "Time to have a talk, Creep. You decide how this goes." She sat down and watched, waiting for its response.

The Creep growled, but not at Pyrrha. It ignored her entirely, like she wasn't even there. It was facing Tsuruya, snapping its jaws at her, but not advancing on the steel entrapment. It was certainly more interested in her.

Tsuruya let her aura drift through the room, free-floating over to the Grimm. Maybe this was how they communicated before. Time crawled by slowly, every minute feeling like an hour, and her aura draining the whole time. Nothing was happening. The Creep was just hissing and snarling.

Pyrrha eventually sighed and switched her spear into a rifle, aiming at the Grimm. "Well, we're not getting anywhere. Maybe it's just Creeps aren't intelligent."

"_Maybe it is just that you are not intelligent."_

* * *

**Author's Note: Snarky Grimm. And for the rest of the story, expect casualties. A lot of casualties.  
**


	12. The Black Hand

"_Maybe it is just that you are not intelligent."_

Pyrrha lowered her weapon. Her eyes never moved off the Grimm. It had spoken. It had said something in all its growling and snarling. Actual words that they could all understand. A verbal Human language. She wasn't sure how exactly she should have reacted.

Tsuruya stepped forward, kneeling down in front of the Creep so she was level with it. "You can understand us now?"

"_Now? Always."_

"Then why wait until now to talk?"

"_You… not until now could you offer us anything."_

Pyrrha raised her rifle again. "Offer you what? Nothing's changed. We are still natural enemies."

It answered Pyrrha's question, but never turned away from Tusurya. _"Escape… from this wretched Remnant. This worthless remains of a dead world. All we desire is to return to our home in the darkness."_

Tsuruya turned back to Pyrrha. "The darkness? Outer space?" The answer hit her like a brick wall. "The darkness between worlds. I know where that is. That's the place I came through to get to Remnant. I… they want back into that darkness. It's where they came from, and I know how to get them there."

"Tsuruya, you need to stop and think about this." Pyrrha poked her weapon at the Creep. "These things live to destroy Humans. Think about how you got here."

It was true that the portal was open from Remnant to Earth, and the darkness was between them. If she led the Grimm into the darkness, they could launch an attack on Earth. There were too many lives at stake there, so she couldn't risk it. She knew that. The portal had to still be open, otherwise there was no way for her to get back.

"Then I need to… hmm." She stepped back and mulled it over. There had to be a way to save Remnant without condemning Earth. "I show the Grimm to the portal, and then close it from Earth. I don't know exactly how to turn off that… thing… that Emiri gave me."

Pyrrha stepped in front of her, still watching the Grimm closely. She was facing away from Tsuruya, but she was talking directly to her. "Think carefully about what you're saying. You may save Remnant, and even if you stop them from getting to your world, you'll be doing exactly what the Grimm want you to do. You'll be helping these monsters."

"_You know nothing, halfbreed."_

Pyrrha fired her rifle, blasting the Creep's left leg off. "What did you call me? Say that again! What did you call me?"

Tsuruya grabbed the gun and pulled it to the side. "Stop. Hold on." She addressed the Grimm. "What do you mean, calling her a halfbreed."

It struggled, snapping at the air, writhing around on the ground with the loss of a leg. It howled at them angrily. _"You fools! You are abominations and you do not even know it! Halfbreed mixes of Human and the other race! Why else do you think you can breed with them? Every being on this planet that dares call themselves Human carries their blood!"_

Pyrrha stopped struggling, so Tsuruya released her weapon. The redheaded warrior lowered it and spoke to the Grimm again. "You're talking about the Faunus, aren't you?"

"_They are no different. All of you halfbreed."_

"Um…" Tsuruya cleared her throat. "I'm not actually from this world."

"_I can smell their blood. There is not a man, woman, or child in this world that does not carry it. _Your_ blood is different. It is _fresher_. More pure. More _Human_. But only by a few generations."_

Tsuruya looked to Pyrrha. "What? What does that even mean?"

"I think…" Pyrrha shook her head. "I don't think we should be taking this thing at its word, but I think it's saying that someone in your family, only a few generations ago, was from Remnant."

"…Well, then maybe that's why I have an aura, and it's not just something every Human has. Maybe it's that… other race?" Tsuruya shrugged. "So, cool. I'm an alien. I have another question for you, Mr. Grimm. Could you always speak English, or does that have anything to do with my semblance? If it isn't my semblance, then I need to keep trying to figure out what that is."

It suddenly seemed more eager to answer. Somehow talking about her semblance was far more important to it than the ethnicity of Remnant's population. _"Your abilities are the only reason we would talk to any of your kind. You are no translator. You are just… the only one worth communicating with."_

"So my semblance is not what allows us to talk to each other, but it is what you want to talk about?"

It sighed. A very strange sound coming from a Grimm. _"You are our key to escape from this wretched hive. We would not be here if we could leave on our own."_

Tsuruya was silent. She was trying to piece together the puzzle. The Grimm wasn't exactly being specific, but she got the main concept. She still wasn't sure what it meant. Sure, she had opened up a portal into the darkness, where they wanted to go, but she didn't know where it was. There had to be an answer, but it sounded like this Creep wasn't going to be very forthcoming.

"There has to be a way I can… make a deal with them. If I can get them into the darkness, they can stay there and I can go home, and Remnant will be saved. Everyone wins. We can make a deal."

The Creep just howled, its body rumbling and shaking the ground under it. The shaking grew stronger until the ground split open underneath it. Pyrrha stepped in, firing one shot into its head and finishing it off. It didn't stop the tremors.

Pyrrha grabbed Tsuruya's hand and headed for the door. "We need to get out of here. I think hiding place has just turned into a death trap."

Once they were out in the subway, they could see the damage that was done. The pillars were crumbling and the ground was breaking apart. They turned to rejoin the others, but were immediately cut off as three serpentine heads broke through the ground and slithered after them.

Switching her weapon to its spear form, Pyrrha stabbed one of the heads and pinned it to the ground. Tsuruya drew her sword and slashed the other two, severing them from their necks. They ran the rest of the way and reached the group just in time to see the way up to the street collapse.

Most everyone was preoccupied batting at anything that got too close and firing wildly into the shadows. Nebula was still down, and her teammates stood over her protecting their leader. Penny was effortlessly dashing through the shadows, slashing apart everything she came across. Pyrrha took her place with her team as soon as she was there.

Tsuruya made her way to May, who was beside the three remaining members of NDGO. She patted her new friend on the shoulder. "We got a plan to get out of here, right?"

"Yeah. It just collapsed. What's plan B?"

Sun and Ren rushed past, heading away from the collapsed exit. Sun called back. "Everyone this way! We need to keep moving!"

May shrugged and followed them. Everyone else was close behind. Tsuruya, remembering how Nebula was injured, turned back to see Qrow and Dew had stopped to help her up. Octavia was warding off every attack directed at them on her own, so Tsuruya jumped in to help.

Qrow turned to the two girls once Nebula was up. "One of you is gonna have to clear things up ahead of us."

Before they could think of choosing who would be in front and who in back, the subway tunnel began to crumble around them. The ground split open right under Qrow's feet and he fell in, taking Nebula and Dew with him. Tsuruya and Octavia ran to the edge and peered down to see that Qrow had managed to wedge his scythe in between the two sides of the gap. He held on to his weapon with one hand and had his other arm wrapped around Nebula. Dew had fallen and was now hanging off his leg. There was a cavern beneath them, impossible to tell how deep.

Qrow motioned to the two girls above. "I'm gonna throw her to you. Catch her." Without waiting for a response, he indeed threw Nebula up to them. They caught her, and Tsuruya shifted her over to Octavia entirely. Qrow looked down at Dew. "Now you climb up before we both fall."

Dew did as instructed and climbed up Qrow's leg. She grabbed onto his shirt and pulled herself up level with him. She reached up and caught Tsuruya's hand. As soon as she moved to climb out, the scythe broke through the concrete that held it in place and Qrow dropped out of sight.

Tsuruya helped Dew up as Octavia leaped over the gap with Nebula. The two were about to follow when the ground fell away under them. Just as they fell, and black shadows began to swallow up Tsuruya's sight, she caught sight of something flying out of the dark, coming up to meet them.

Qrow shot out of the cavern, catching the two girls and landing safely beside the gap. He set them down and unfolded his scythe. "Now hand me Nebula and everyone run."

There was plenty of time to make up for. They were nearly a minute behind the rest of the group, and at the speed they were running is was going to be hard to make up the difference. There was sufficient encouragement behind them in the form of unseen but very well heard hordes of Grimm. Tsuruya and Octavia bolted ahead, leaving Dew at the back of the group.

Qrow pointed ahead of them. "I see light. Head up there. Go!"

* * *

**"Such heart. Such defiance. If I could, I would destroy all of them. Alas, they are nothing but a distraction. They are only half of what I despise. The Human race, strong and pure, lives worlds away on Earth. The center of everything is there, and I must return to where I was created."**

The Black Queen of the Grimm stood from her throne. Her lavender eyes glowered at the red skies above her. As she stepped away from her throne for the first time in many years, her raven black hair flowed behind her like a cloak. The dark dress she wore wrapped around her body scarcely. The black wings unfolded from her back.

**"The girl from another world offers us a deal. I do not take deals well, but we shall humor her so far as it serves us. Every step closer to Earth is a victory. I must find the light and feed. And we shall all feast on the masses of the Human race. Rise, my legions! We go to Vale! Every one of us! Rise! To war!"**

The hellish landscape before her erupted with myriads upon myriads of Grimm of all sizes. Dragons swarmed to the skies, carrying the wrath of the Grimm in their wings. The Great Black Dragon rose up beneath her, turning its head to Vale. She rode her massive beast of burden as it made its way to the feast. Of course, the White Queen would remain. Salem was just like that. She could not bear to leave these remnants the way they were.

The Black Queen's march had begun.

* * *

**Author's Note: I want to have some Qrow awesome in this story. Expect that there will be some. And our narrator in this story, like in RWBY canon, is the villain. Obviously. The Black Queen is on the march.  
**


End file.
